BAGUIO CITY December 21 – The local government here is gaining headway in its unrelenting and aggressive efforts to come out with a permanent solution to the city’s solid waste disposal problem as the Benguet Corporation (BC) reportedly issued a deed of usufruct for the use of a 12-hectare portion of its Antamok open pit site for the establishment of a planed integrated solid waste disposal facility.
Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said that the deed of usufruct is currently being reviewed by the City Legal Office to ensure that the proposed terms and conditions of the legal instrument will be to the greater advantage of the local government to effectively and efficiently address the city’s solid waste disposal problem that has been eating a huge portion of the city’s annual budget.
“We continue to be aggressive in finding the most appropriate solution to our existing garbage disposal problem so that we will be able to put in place the needed solutions that will result in a more efficient and effective solid waste disposal system with the latest environment-friendly technology,” Domogan stressed.
The local chief executive underscored that while the city is still working on the permanent solution to the garbage disposal issues, hauling of the city’s residual waste to an engineered sanitary landfill outside the city is still the most feasible solution to prevent the occurrence of a garbage crisis in the future.
He added, starting next year, the local government will be hauling its residual waste to the Urdaneta sanitary landfill after its management offered the city a lower offer in terms of the tipping fee being collected per ton of garbage which is at P550 compared to the offer of the management of Metro Clark Waste Management Corporation that increased to P650 per ton.
Under the planned integrated solid waste disposal facility, the local government, together with a private partner who will be screened to provide the latest environment-friendly technology, will be putting up a waste-to-energy plant, an engineered sanitary landfill, a centralized materials recovery facility, the two Environmental Recycling (ERS) machines, an anaerobic digester, a health and medical waste treatment plant and a special waste treatment plant.
Domogan claimed despite the existence of BC’s offer to the local government to use a portion of its Antamok open pit site for the establishment of its integrated solid waste disposal facility, the option to use a portion of the city-owned 139-hectare property in Sto. Tomas for the said purpose remains open in case future negotiations for the use of BC’s property will not materialize.
Aside from working on the permanent solution to the city’s garbage disposal problem, he also announced that the local government will be purchasing additional garbage trucks next year to strengthen the collection of garbage from the city’s 128 barangays by the City’s General Services.
The local government is spending at least P80 to P90 million annually to haul the city’s residual waste to the available sanitary landfills in the lowlands.**By Dexter A. See