THE WASTE INCINERATOR at Poolbeg in Dublin may be abandoned by Dublin City Council.

To date, the Poolbeg Incinerator project has cost the taxpayer €96 million, yet the project is yet to materialise.

The original plan was to build an incinerator to take on the increase waste being accumulated and it was set to cost in the region of €400 million for the 600 tonne incinerator.

However, comments made by the City Manager Owen Keegan at last night’s council meeting indicate that the project may not go ahead.

Project

However, it might still be possible for a scaled down incinerator to be built.

Keegan said that the main issue with the project is that Covanta, the council’s partner in the project, were no longer obliged to fund the facility using their own finance. Also as they did not proceed to construction prior to 2010, the situation had also changed in that they were no longer in a position to deliver waste to the facility as envisaged under the existing Project Agreement.

He added that the complaints made to the EU in relation to the public-private partnership contract with the company Covanta possibly breaching EU regulations on state aid and procurement, was also a major issue.

“This is a matter which has been discussed with the EU Commission in recent times as a result of which they have indicated that the contract should be terminated. The Authorities have indicated to the Commission that it is intended to terminate the contract by no later than January 2014,” he said.

Read: Dublin City Council spent almost €200k a month on Poolbeg consultancy fees>

Read: Here’s how much Poolbeg is worth now (and now much has been spent on it)>