Bullshitting over Private Finance for Prosiect Gwyrdd

Bullshitting over Private Finance for Prosiect Gwyrdd

Cllr Mark Stephens took on the PFI question at Cardiff Council meeting of 24th February. "P Gwyrdd is under a PPP partnership so cannot be PFI" – you're confused he told Anne Greagsby!

People had thought this guy spouts acronyms like DBFOM and PPP to show his superiority, but his answer showed he doesn't understand that a partnership can use private finance – it fully deserved the response “bullshit”, which caused ripples amidst the smug rows in the Council Chamber.

Why is this important? Because it shows the chair of Prosiect Gwyrdd is an ignoramus, who doesn't read the crucial financial documents. The Procurement Strategy [1] at s.8.4.1 says WAG funding is “critical” and WAG requires use of SoPc4 (Standardisation of PFI Contracts Version 4). It shows too ignorance of the reasons why the LibDem party and its guru Vince Cable reject PFI deals as excessively costly and a proven rip-off.

Cllr Stephens also chairs Cardiff Council's Finance Cttee, which may explain the crassly wasteful expenditure in the Council's waste section, who sent kitchen and garden biowastes for processing in Derby at the immense cost of £500 per tonne (normally near £50 per tonne).

[1] www.caerphilly.gov.uk/prosiectgwyrdd/pdfs/Procurement_Strategy.pdf ; Standardisation of PFI Contracts Version 4 www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/ppp_technical_update.pdf

Eight bidders announced for huge Welsh INCINERATROR PPP

Eight bidders announced for huge Welsh PPP


Materials Recycling Week
Huge Welsh public private partnership (PPP) proposal Prosiect Gwyrdd has drawn up the ... Prosiect Gwyrdd comprises local authorities in south-east Wales, ...

Prosiect Gwyrdd has drawn up the long-list of companies in the running for the contract to manage waste from six local authorities in the country, including Cardiff.

The chosen companies are:

·         CovantaCocenta, Viridor

·         MVV Umwelt

·         Shanks Group

·         Sita UK

·         Urbaser

·         Veolia ES Aurora

·         Viridor Waste Management

·         Waste Recycling Group (WRG)

Each company will be asked to submit outline solutions for the waste, suggesting technologies and possible sites. Each bidder is able to submit two bids. WRG announced in January that it will propose to build an energy-from-waste plant on a site at Newport, as part of an exclusivity deal with chemical firm Solutia UK.

Prosiect Gwyrdd comprises local authorities in south-east Wales, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Monmouthshire, Newport and the Vale of Glamorgan. The 25-year contract has the option for a five-year extension. Bidders need to provide a solution for municipal waste once recycling and composting has been maximised in each location, which is estimated to be 30-35% of the total municipal waste produced.

Chair of the joint committee governing the project Mark Stephens said: “The partner councils are happy with the interest from the market. Obviously Prosiect Gwyrdd is keen to ensure the process to deliver a solution to residual waste is as competitive as possible. The partnership is technology neutral, and has assessed all compliant bids made against agreed criteria.”

The cost of the project has not been disclosed because it is subject to a commercial tender process.