PUTRAJAYA: The country’s second Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plant costing RM660 million will be built in Sungai Udang, Melaka, and is expected to be fully operational by 2029.
Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming said the Sungai Udang WtE project had undergone an open tender process and would be implemented through a Public-Private Partnership approach between the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) and a consortium comprising Malakoff Corporation Bhd and Alam Flora Environmental Solutions Sdn Bhd (AFES), based on the Build, Operate and Own (BOO) model.
“This plant will utilise stoker grate incineration technology that complies with all current technical requirements and environmental standards.
“The concessionaire has also shown commitment to constructing a second incineration line in the future to ensure uninterrupted operations, subject to new agreement negotiations,” he said at the Sungai Udang WtE Concession Agreement Signing Ceremony here today.
The agreement was signed by KPKT Secretary-General Datuk M Noor Azman Taib; Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) chairman Hee Loy Sian and Sungai Udang WtE Sdn Bhd director Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib, and witnessed by Nga.
Nga said the Sungai Udang WtE plant is expected to process up to 1,000 tonnes of solid waste per day, generate 22 megawatts (MW) of electricity, and reduce over 259,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually—equivalent to the environmental benefit of planting more than four million trees.
He said the plant would also be equipped with a leachate treatment system with a capacity of 96 cubic metres and would be built on 9.8 acres of land at the existing Sungai Udang landfill site.
In terms of implementation, Nga said the construction of the plant would begin next year and take three years to complete, after fulfilling various preconditions that have been set.
These include key approvals such as the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Social Impact Assessment (SIA), Environmental Management Plan (EMP), Solid Waste Management Plan (PSS), and several other technical documents required to ensure the safety and sustainability of the project.
“The concession period for this project is set at 34 years, including a three-year construction period. The Sungai Udang WtE plant is targeted to be fully operational by 2029, with the end of the concession and demolition of the plant scheduled for 2061,” he said.
Nga also stated that the amount of solid waste generated by Malaysians is projected to increase to 17.03 million metric tonnes by the year 2035.
This increase, he said, clearly signals that relying solely on landfill sites is not only unsustainable but also insufficient to accommodate the continuous rise in waste.
“It is time for us to re-evaluate our current approach and shift towards more sustainable solutions. WtE technology is emerging as one of the key drivers in transforming the national solid waste management system.
“This initiative is expected to contribute up to 600MW of renewable energy (RE) as part of the strategy to achieve 70 per cent renewable energy capacity by 2050,” he said.
The first WtE plant was completed in 2023 at Ladang Tanah Merah, Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, with a processing capacity of 800 tonnes of waste per day and energy generation of 15MW.
WtE is a technology that converts non-recyclable waste materials into usable forms of energy, such as heat, electricity, or fuel.
