Fairway’s waste-to-energy project likely to get IFC financing

• IFC may provide funding of US $ 7mn for the project estimated at a total cost of US $ 67mn

Sri Lanka’s Fairway Waste Management (Pvt) Ltd. is likely to receive a US$ 7 million financing facility from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector funding arm of the World Bank Group, for a waste-to-energy project.

The total cost of the project, which will be co-located with an existing dumpsite in Karandeniya, Colombo, is estimated at US $ 67 million. 

 The project is a 13.2 MW, 615 tons per day waste-to-energy plant that is expected to generate 80 Gigawatt Hours (GWhs) of electricity, annually. 

The facility will process waste from Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia, Moratuwa, Maharagama, Boralesgamuwa, Kesbewa, Piliyandala and Homagama local authorities. 

Fairways Holding Private Ltd, which is into real estate development, is a majority shareholder in Fairway Waste Management while the remaining stake is held by individual investors as well as the Waste Management Authority of Sri Lanka.  The project is not only expected to provide a solution for scalable waste treatment but also offers a renewable energy source for Sri Lanka where 52 percent of its generated electricity comes through imported fossil fuels.  

Sri Lanka generates 7000MT of solid waste per day and only half of it is collected. 

In 2008, Sri Lanka envisioned a 10-year waste management programme to become a waste-free country by 2018, but it has failed to realise the desired outcome.