Background

·China signed the Stockholm Convention on POPs in 2001 and the People's Congress ratified the Convention in 2004. The National Implementation Plan (NIP) was completed in 2007. The proposed project will catalyze and expedite the phase-in of Best Available Techniques (BAT)/ Best Environmental Practices (BEP) in the MSW disposal sector that the NIP identified as a major source of PCDD/F release. The NIP identified MSW incineration as one of the key sources of PCDD/F release. 

·MSW management is a growing concern for China's cities. With China's rapid economic development, urbanization, and rising standards of living, the quantity of municipal solid wastes collected and transported has increased more than five-fold nationwide from about 31 million tons in 1980 to about 157 million tons in 2009 and is projected to reach 585 million tons in 2030. No country has ever experienced as large and rapid an increase in waste generation. 

·The role of incineration in MSW management has been increasing and will continue to increase due to a shortage of available land for landfills and the incinerators' potential ability to generate heat or electricity ("waste to energy"). A series of incentive policies are in place to encourage investment in MSW incinerators, including value added tax refunding, prioritized commercial bank loans, state subsidy (2%) for loan interest, and favorable feed-in prices for the electricity sale into the grid. Consequently, the number of MSW incinerators is expected to rise from 66 in 2009 to 200 in 2015, increasing the incineration capacity from 55.4 thousand tons to 140 thousand tons per day over the same time period. 

·China has a long road ahead in adopting the modern MSW management hierarchy, which most favors prevention, followed by -- in order or preference -- minimization (reduction), reuse, recycling, energy recovery, and least favors disposal. In China, present MSW management generally focuses narrowly on the traditional pattern of collection and disposal. Household waste is not separated at the source. Recyclable material collection and recycling is generally pursued by the for-profit private sector, which focuses on paper products, metals, plastics, and glass. However, residential waste collected and transported by municipal sanitation units for disposal at incineration or landfills still contains a considerable proportion of plastic bags, packaging materials, kitchen waste, and some metals. The high moisture content of the waste delivered to incinerators inhibits the combustion process, while plastics lead to dioxin precursors, both causing PCDD/F generation and release. 

·The project will implement selected NIP actions that should be completed by 2015 and fulfill the associated objectives. GEF supported activities will integrate PCDD/F reduction from MSW into China's efforts to modernize its MSW management system, by strengthening the policy and regulatory framework and the institutional capacity, demonstrating BAT/BEP applications, preparing a replication strategy and raising public awareness, and monitoring and evaluation of project results. 

·The project's development objective is to enhance the regulatory framework for compliance with new dioxin emissions standards for incineration facilities, demonstrate best available techniques (BAT) and best environmental practices (BEP) in MSW management to lower dioxins and furans emissions from such facilities, and establish favorable conditions for replicating project results more widely across China. As such, the Project would support China in meeting its obligations under the Stockholm Convention. The Project Overview in Annex 1 details the project components and sources of information on the project. 

·FECO has developed criteria for the selection of pilot cities, and Beijing, Kunming, and Ningbo are determined as the 3 candidate pilot cities at present. The 3 cities have recommended some MSW incinerators either in operation or under construction for study, but the final list of incinerators will be subject to change depending on their matching conditions with the project requirements. 

·At the pilot city level, all the BAT/BEP measures proposed by the pilot cities shall be first scrutinized to see if these BAT/BEP measures are in consistency with the BAT/BEP Guidelines issued by the SC Secretariat, and then assessed in terms of their technical and financial feasibility, and environmental and social impacts. Based on these assessments, a project log frame with specific activities, indicators for outputs and outcomes, means of verification, responsibilities, timing, and budget will be identified for the implementation of the BAT/BEP measures at each pilot city in accordance with the requirements of GEF and World Bank. 

·Introduction and sustainable application of BAT/BEP will automatically impact the financial performance of the incinerators. It was agreed that during Project preparation, a consultant would be hired to carry out a financial analyses of the incinerator operations with BAT/BEP in all three selected plants. 

·This TOR lays out the objective and scope of the consultancy to be provided by the Consultant.

Objective of the Consultancy 

·The objective of the consultancy is to carry out a comprehensive financial assessment of the investment projects and provide acceptable adjustments to the project investment, revenue and incentives structure to enable the MSW incinerators operating with BAT/BEP financially viable and sustainable.

Scope of this assignment 

·The Consultant will

 ·Understand the recommendations of the BAT/BEP consultant, notably the cost estimate for additional investment and changes in operating procedures

 ·Carry out a financial due diligence investigation to establish the existing financial status for each MSW incineration plant

 ·Review the revenue structure to see whether it is sufficient to sustainably cover the additional cost if any incurred by the introduction of BAT/BEP

 ·Review and verify the applicability of their financial models, including determination of sound assumptions resulting in a set of projected financial statements (balance sheet, cash flow, income statement, key ratio analysis, etc.) and sensitivity scenarios, and collect adequate data to test and validate all key assumptions against financial model outputs. Make necessary adjustments to the model. 

 ·Identify project investment, revenue and incentives structures (e.g. tipping fee, preferential feed-in tariff for electricity, cost savings from BAT/BEP adoption, subsidies, land acquisition, tax exemption, etc.) under the concession agreements and other applicable national and local policies 

 ·Assess various adjustment modalities and recommend a suitable modality to enable the MSW incinerators operation with BAT/BEP financially viable and sustainable, including required contractual agreements and institutional structures to effect such modality

·In carrying out the above tasks, the Consultant will cooperate and coordinate closely with FECO and pilot cities/municipalities. She/he will prepare briefing reports, written comments and responses at the request of FECO and World Bank, and participate in project preparation missions and meetings, as requested. The Consultant will also provide thematic reporting materials to brief FECO and WB on progress and results, participate in workshops and prepare responses to comments. 

Outputs/Deliverables 

·The outputs include, and all of these outputs should be in English:

Total assignment approximately take 40 man.days. 

Qualifications

·The consultant must have: 

 ·Academic degree in finance, economics, or accounting.

 ·10 years' experience in financial modeling/structuring and project costing and revenue forecast of waste management projects

 ·Familiar with the accounting practices of China

·Preferred qualifications:
 ·Working knowledge of English

 ·A professional accountancy designation (CICPA)

Procedures

A Consultant will be selected based on the Selection of Individual Consultants (IC) modality in accordance with the procedures set out in the World Bank's Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants by World Bank Borrowers (current edition).

FECO now invite eligible experts to provide the interests in Municipal Solid Waste BAT/BEP Specialist (CS-8 Technical Coordination Consult) under Municipal Solid Waste Management Project-Project Preparation Grant. The experts with interests shall provide expression letter of interest and CV. Interested consultants may obtain further information at the address below or by e-mail during office hours from 09:00 to 17:00.

Deadline

Further information can be obtained at the address below or by e-mail during office hours from 09:00 to 17:00.
Ren Yong(Mr.)
Tel: 86-10-82268953
Fax: 86-10-82200527
Add: No 5, Houyingfang Hutong, Beijing, China, 100035
E-mail: ren.yong@mepfeco.org.cn

CV must be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person, or by mail, or by fax, or by e-mail) by 17:00 (Beijing time), July 7th, 2013.

Yan wei (Ms.)
Tel: 86-10-82268844
Fax: 86-10-82200510
Add: No 5, Houyingfang Hutong, Beijing, China, 100035
E-mail: yan.wei@mepfeco.org.cn