Environment Canterbury Regional Council says it is pleased that Christchurch City Council (CCC) has progressed its procurement process to secure a new site for an organics processing plant.
This follows the ‘in principle’ decision made by CCC in April 2022 to relocate the facility.
Council staff undertook an expression of interest (EOI) procurement process that commenced in August 2022, with six potential sites and providers now shortlisted
“It’s critical Council finds the best future organics processing solution for Christchurch. This means we have to follow a fair, objective procurement process, considering all options on their merits,” says Council’s Head of Transport and Waste, Lynette Ellis.
“This means that the procurement plan and details about the six suppliers, sites and solutions will remain confidential at this stage as they are commercially sensitive and we don’t want to risk the procurement process being compromised. This could happen if any commercially sensitive information is released prematurely, giving the potential for bias ahead of the process being completed or potential solutions being undermined.”
Council will conduct a Request for Proposal (RFP) process for the six candidates between April-August this year, with evaluation and negotiation to be completed by the end of October.
A new contract is expected to be awarded in February next year.
Environment Canterbury General Manager of Regulatory Services, Judith Earl-Goulet said the shortlisting of candidates was an important milestone for the new site.
“This is a good step, but this has been a long journey for the community, and it will be a while before the plant is operating on a new site,” she said.
“Determining a new suitable site and provider will take time and will present new challenges. For the community, it’s a step in the right direction, but they still have a wait on their hands before they will see tangible results.
“We recognise that the Bromley community has been dealing with uncertainty for quite some time now. There’s been significant and ongoing community interest in the odour issue in Bromley.
“Frankly, it’s taken far too long to get to this point. At least now the community has some certainty that CCC intends to relocate the organics processing plant.
“We will continue to work very closely with CCC as they undertake the rest of their procurement process to find a new site and provider for the organics processing plant.
“Going forward, we hope to see transparency and open communication from CCC – with the community and with Environment Canterbury.”
Ms Earl-Goulet said Environment Canterbury staff will continue to closely monitor and respond to odour reports in Bromley while the organics processing plant continues to operate on its current site.
“We recently published a new webpage to demonstrate the odour-monitoring work that we undertake. It shows the latest information, including the number of reports we’ve received and any actions taken,” she said.
