Smart City Sweden Supports Waste Management Project in Karu, Nasarawa State

Smart City Sweden Supports Waste Management Project in Karu, Nasarawa State

The Government of Sweden has through its export platform Smart City Sweden, approved financing support to the Karu Waste Management Project in Nasarawa State.

The proposed project aims to reduce the amount of waste destined for land filling and dumping within Karu by the recovery and conversion of recyclable materials into useful products including energy through the application of state-of-the-art technologies and best practices.

Specifically, the funds would be used to co-finance the Project’s Feasibility Study. The study is led by WSP Sweden and supported by the local firm, Natural Eco Capital Limited.

Nasarawa State Governor, His Excellency Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule expressed appreciation to the Swedish Government for supporting what is the first PPP Project in Nasarawa State under a new robust PPP Framework.

“With the involvement of Sweden, we are assured of a landmark project which aligns with the State’s development agenda. Hopefully, this will become a case study for other recycling and waste to energy projects across the region”.

Nasarawa State under the leadership of Engr. Sule has been very deliberate about stimulating its economy, building people’s human capacities, and creating wealth and jobs for them.

This is the basis of the Governor’s Nasarawa Economic Development Strategy (NEDS) founded on a vision to sustain accelerated growth of the Nasarawa economy driven by the private sector and translating this to a clear improvement in citizens’ lives and the achievement of other key development outcomes.

Senior Advisor at Beacon Energy Development Services, Dr. Lazarus Angbazo stated: “This is a major milestone for us, and we really appreciate the Government of Sweden and the entire team at Smart City Sweden for this contribution, which confirms Sweden’s continued commitment to supporting initiatives that sustainably address climate, energy and environmental issues. We look forward to a stronger bigger partnership in the future.”

Sweden has extensive and efficient waste management systems in place with over 99 per cent of all household waste being recycled or recovered. Their waste is treated in integrated systems and recycled as district heating, electricity, biogas, biofertiliser and materials. Different treatment methods are used depending on the nature of the waste so as to make it possible to use the waste as a resource.

Head of Business Development Group at Smart City Sweden, Östen Ekengren stated: “Sweden has a long history as a pioneer in issues relating to the environment and sustainable development in a broader sense.

“We believe the Karu Waste-to-Energy Project not only has the potential to significantly improve the waste management system in Nasarawa State and the North-Central region of Nigeria, but also reduce the climate impact from the waste management sector and enhance the living conditions of the citizens. We are very excited and look forward to working with the Beacon Energy Consortium on this project.”

Interim CEO of the Karu Integrated Waste Management Company (KIWMC), Obiora Okoye stated: “We are very excited about the support from Sweden which comes following the completion of the Technical Audit of the Karu Recycling Plant.

“The funding support will provide us a better understanding of the market opportunity and the design options for our larger recycling and Waste-to-Energy project.”

Karu Integrated Waste Management Company (KIWMC) is a Special Purpose Company, established under a PPP between Nasarawa State Government and Beacon Energy Development Services Limited. KIWMC will operate a plastic recycling plant in Karu designed to recycle post-consumer plastics into resin pellets.

KIWMC also intends to expand into material recycling facility that can process a broader range of municipal solid waste such as paper, wood, metal and glass and conversion of waste to energy.

The participating partners include Beacon Energy Development Services (BEDS), an indigenous company involved in development, financing, operation and services within the power, oil & gas, and sustainable infrastructure sectors.

Nasarawa State signed a concession agreement with Beacon Energy for the development of the Waste to Energy Project in October 2020.

Blackaion Capital on the other hand is an investment, advisory & project Development Company focused on developing and growing infrastructure, energy and technology ventures across West Africa.

Founded by former GE Leaders, Blackaion is developing a portfolio of assets in renewable energy, flare-gas capture and midstream services, and waste-to-energy. Blackaion is a Consortium Partner with BEDS.

Also, Smart City Sweden coordinated by the Swedish Energy Agency, Smart City Sweden is a state-funded initiative that initiates cooperation between Sweden and other countries within smart & sustainable city solutions.

The visit platform is managed by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, in close collaboration with regional business promoting organisations, as well as private companies. The initiative includes a group of eight governmental agencies, providing expertise and knowledge of best practice within their fields.https://smartcitysweden.com/

On a global scale, WSP ranks in the top ten professional services firms in the world. The firm employs approximately 50,000 people, who work in more than 500 offices located in 50 countries.

WSP are known to be dedicated to local communities with international scale, and future-focused challenging the status quo.

In the last five years, WSP has emerged as a leader in the design of waste materials reclamation projects, as WSP has contributed to a large number of major projects. This unique experience gives WSP a global understanding of the markets of waste materials, with market’s constraints, opportunities and key success factors. www.wsp.com

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