The city of Shanghai will build its fourth city-level solid waste incineration plant in Minhang District, it announced yesterday.

The new incinerator will be the biggest of its kind in Asia.

According to Shanghai Environment Investment Company, which will own the plant, the facility is designed to have a daily garbage handling capacity of 3,000 tons and generate around 270 million kilowatt-hours of power every year.

The project, which will cost 1.49 billion yuan (US$180 million), has been endorsed by the city government, but it is still awaiting approval from national authorities.

"This project will materialize the municipal government's plan of establishing a solid waste disposal system around the outer ring of the city proper," said Liu Weiguang of the Public Sanitation Bureau.

According to Wu Shiping of the public sanitation department in Minhang, the incineration plant will take over the solid waste disposal work in the western part of the city.

He also said that two-thirds of the electricity it generates would be contributed to the East China electric grid.

International bidders, including companies from Japan and Germany, are competing for a piece of the project.

(Shanghai Daily May 18, 2004)