BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan asserted the local government has never been remiss in finding a permanent solution to the city’s solid waste disposal problem considering that all the possible options that were laid down by the City Solid Waste Management Board had been given importance over the past several years.
While the local government is working finding the best option to solve the city’s garbage disposal woes, the city executive pointed out that the city’s residents should understand that currently, the best option is the hauling of the city’s residual waste to the sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac and soon in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan.
“We continue to work on what will be the most feasible solution to the city’s garbage disposal problem with various proposed solutions through the use of the latest technology,” Domogan stressed.
Aside from evaluating the feasible solution to the city’s garbage disposal problem, he added that the local government is also trying to work out the least possible expenses on the part of the city in the hauling of its residential waste, thus, it was forced to take the offer of the management of the Urdaneta sanitary landfill of P550 per ton as tipping fee compared to the projected increase of the tipping fee to P650 per ton starting next year being planned by the management of the Metro Clark Waste Management Services.
Further, Domogan asserted that the hauling cost to the Urdaneta sanitary landfill will be much cheaper than that to the Capas sanitary landfill because of the shorter distance, about 140 kilometers, thus, the possibility of much lesser transportation cost on the part of the city starting next year.
On the other hand, Domogan emphasized that the local government has not yet abandoned the plan to use a 50-hectare portion of the 139-hectare city-owned property in Sto. Tomas School Area as the site for the city’s integrated solid waste management facility while it remains optimistic on the realization of a similar project in a portion of the Antamok open pit site owned by the Benguet Corporation (BC).
Domogan further informed that although BC has offered a portion of its Antamok open-pit site for the city’s an 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 negotiations for the use of BC’s property will not materialize.
He claimed all the initiatives being undertaken by the local government to find the appropriate solutions to the city’s garbage problem is being closely coordinated with the Cordillera office of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-CAR) to conform with the prevailing standards for the sustained preservation and protection of the environment.
By Dexter A. See
