This Is Guernsey

By Simon Tostevin

Lurgi’s design for an incinerator at Longue Hougue.

THE firm set to build the waste incinerator when the States shied away from mass-burn in 2004 has pulled out of the running this time around.

David Porter, director of Lentjes UK, which was formerly Lurgi, said his company would not be tendering for the 70,000-tonne per annum waste plant after its plans for one four years ago were halted by Deputy Scott Ogier’s requete.

Mr Porter estimated that costs had risen by 10% a year so that the plant that would have cost £80m. in 2004 would cost roughly £117m. today.

‘Once bitten, twice shy,’ said Mr Porter.

‘It costs hundreds of thousands of pounds to put these bids together so people don’t do it lightly, especially if they don’t even know if the project is going to go ahead.

‘And Guernsey falls at the first hurdle in that regard.

‘But Lentjes is part of a bigger group so I can’t preclude one of our sister companies bidding. However, we definitely won’t be.’

It came as news to Public Services minister Bill Bell that Lentjes would not be tendering.

‘That’s an interesting fact. The fact that prices have gone up is not a surprise.

‘But I’m not prepared to speculate on that figure and I’m not prepared to comment on speculation.’

Mr Porter said if Lentjes had gone ahead in 2004, it would all have been completed by now.

‘After building it we were going to operate it for three years, but now the question is not only to build it but to operate it for 25 years.

‘That’s not really our cup of tea.’

The escalation in prices recently had shocked Mr Porter, but he said the problem was that contractors in the UK in particular were very busy at the moment.

Given the level of work, Mr Porter wondered how attractive Guernsey would be both in terms of location and history.

‘People will still take something on as long as there is a profit in it for them.

‘But Guernsey is not the most attractive place to go for because a lot of the equipment, labour and expertise has to be shipped in.

‘Not only do you have to ship in all the kit, but you need to ship in all of the large cranes.’

There was also a labour shortfall.

‘The biggest problem we have in the UK is labour, especially with the Olympics and new infrastructure projects coming up everywhere.

‘Just in the power industry in the UK there is a 32,000 shortfall needed for the projects in the next five years.

‘Even foreign labour is drying up.’

Deputy Bell said the tendering process had changed since 2004.

‘We are letting tenderers put forward their different options and to run the plant for 25 years.

‘It’s totally different to last time, so we may attract some tenders that we didn’t last time around and we may lose some.’