France, Cross River collaborate on waste-to-electricity project

Cross State Government has sealed an agreement with the French government to convert its wastes to electricity as part of the Governor Ben Ayade-led administration’s actualization of the waste-to-energy policy.

Leader of the team,  Ayodeji Okele, who is also Managing Director, Asaju Energy, disclosed the collaboration during a presentation to Ayade in company with a consortium of French companies, comprising Gilles Baquet, GB Consult and Services, Laurent Lambs, Project Manager Serge Experts.

Okele said they were in Calabar to conduct the feasibility studies on the waste management situation in the state.

The feasibility studies followed a recent visit by the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Jerome Pasquier, to the state.

“We have been having a discussion about this project over a year ago with regard to the waste management situation in Cross River State. And we arrived at the idea that we will need to do proper feasibility studies to find out what solution would be best suited and also what solution will be economically viable,” Okele said.

According to the project guidelines, the team is expected to develop a sustainable solution for disposal of municipal waste, both liquid and solid as well as proffer solutions for the generation of electricity from the end products at the end of the day.

Okele and his team had earlier undertaken an inspection tour of the major dump sites at Lemna.

The purpose of the feasibility studies, according to the team, is to have an idea of the technical and financial basis for the project.

“Our feasibility studies will take about six months,” Okele said.

Governor Ayade, while expressing appreciation to the French government for the partnership, charged the consortium to see the project as purely a life-saving intervention, and “not something you can periodise as a research. This is not a research, it is a life-saving intervention mission and that is why you are here. So, if you approach it from that perspective, your concept of time will become more delicate and sensitive.

“I do not believe you need six months to do this feasibility study, you just need to put more effort and more time. And why am I saying this? This is because when you finish your feasibility study, you will end up with a position statement which states that it is a feasible project. Then you go back to the French government to process the actual final milestone which is the actual implementation. So, if it takes you six months for feasibility study, by the time you get the final approval, it will be towards the end of next year and that is not the level of pulse we need.”