BAGUIO CITY – The local government is inclined to bid out the hauling of the city’s residual waste to the sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac to invite interested haulers to participate in the competitive bidding geared towards continuously lowering the hauling cost of the city’s residual waste.
Eugene D. Buyucan, officer-in-charge of the City General Services office, informed the members of the local legislative body that he already prepared the purchase request for the hauling of the city’s residual waste to Capas, Tarlac and submitted the same to the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) for the scheduling of the bidding process.
However, he said that considering that he is not a member of the BAC, he cannot predict when will be the scheduled bidding for the hauling of the city’s residual waste outside the city considering that the contract of the existing hauler will expire by the end of the year.
Buyucan stated interested bidders must be able to comply with the terms of reference for the hauling wherein the haulers must have their own staging areas or transfer station which have been issued the required permits by the environment department and the host local governments.
The local government is set to bid out the hauling of the city’s residual waste outside the city in the light of the compromise agreement entered into by the existing hauler, MA Camilo Trucking and Freight Services, and the petitioners who filed for the issuance of a temporary environment protection order (TEPO) against the use of its current transfer station in Lamtang, Puguis, La Trinidad, Benguet that the operation of the said staging area will only be until December 22, 2017.
Currently, the local government is hauling out some 160 to 170 tons of residual waste from its transfer station to the Capas sanitary landfill where some 32 trucks of the hauler is being used to bring the garbage outside the city.
Buyucan said he will followup the schedule of bidding with the BAC as he welcomed the desired action of the local legislative body in passing a resolution strongly urging the BAC to immediately schedule the conduct of the transparent bidding process for the hauling of the city’s residual waste next year in anticipation of the upcoming expiration of the hauling contract by the end of the year.
The city bidded out the hauling of its residual waste in 2015 which resulted to the disqualification of an interested bidder because his identified transfer station in barangay Camp 7 was not issued the required environmental compliance certificate and the hauling contract was awarded to the existing hauler.
For the upcoming bidding of the hauling contract, the GSO officer-in-charge claimed that the hauler must be able to satisfy the terms of reference wherein the contractor must have a staging area that must have passed the standards of the host communities and the environment department. He admitted to the local legislators that the hauling of the city’s residual waste outside the city is simply a temporary solution to the garbage disposal problem because the local government is currently setting its sights on the development of Benguet Corporation’s Antamok open pit site in nearby Itogon town to a waste-to-energy facility that could accommodate the city’s generated waste that will eventually put an end to the hauling of the garbage.
By Dexter A. See
