Marguerite acquires 20% stake in waste-to-energy project in Belgrade

Marguerite has acquired a 20% stake in Beo Čista Energija (BCE), a company delivering a 25-year waste management and resource recovery project in Belgrade under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.

The consortium of SUEZ and Itochu established BCE in September 2017, following the award of the project in a competitive international tender organized by the City of Belgrade with the support of the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group). The project is the first major PPP initiative in Serbia.

The project encompasses the design, construction, financing and operation of a greenfield Energy-from-Waste (“EfW”) facility, a recycling facility for Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW), the remediation of the existing dumpsite of Vinča and the development of a new sanitary landfill for residual waste. All facilities will be located in Vinča in the vicinity of Belgrade. The new facilities will process approximately 500,000 tonnes/year of municipal waste and 200,000 tonnes/year of CDW. The project will cost approximately EUR350m and will be financed by a mix of debt and equity. The start of the construction activities is planned to take place in 2019.

The EfW facility will generate renewable electricity (30MW) and heat (56MW) distributed to the households of Belgrade. The project will allow to close and remediate the dumpsite of Vinča, a 40-hectare environmental blackspot listed by the International Solid Waste Association as one of the 50 largest active dumpsites in the world. Furthermore, the project is an important milestone for Serbia in the context of its EU accession process, as it contributes to Serbia’s compliance with EU environmental requirements.