City council hits questionable P80M waste facility project

By Aileen P. Refuerz

BAGUIO CITY – The city council assailed plans for a P80 million solid waste facility here saying these were questionable.

City councilors agreed last week that integrated solid waste management plan for the city should be presented to them first  to serve as basis of actions they will make before this is implemented.

This after the city council discussed proposed terms of reference for development of the city’s engineered sanitary landfill with members of the City Solid Waste Management Board.

Councilors said some terms were not clear while other provisions were questionable particularly on cost and life span of ESL.

Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda said they must first have a full understanding of the entire ISWMP to be properly guided on its proposed components like the ESL.

They scheduled the presentation in their session on April 20 but asked that documents be submitted before April 16 for their study.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan submitted the TOR for the council’s approval after the same was approved by the CSWMB.

The TOR provides for a design and build scheme for the construction of a two-hectare ESL that can accommodate 150,000 tons of compacted solid wastes with a life span of 2.5 years.  

The proposed contract price was P80 million.

The construction of an ESL is one of the strategies of the ISWMS to address the city’s waste problem which consists of other strategies intended for long-term management of the city’s wastes among which a waste-to-energy technology, a central material recovery facility, anaerobic digester and health care waste treatment facility and the Environmental Recycling System (ERS) machines.

The city is eyeing its 130-hectare property reserved for the public need at Mt. Sto. Tomas to house the ISWMS which is now the subject of a feasibility study.