BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan disclosed that the city’s garbage hauler is currently developing a portion of his 5,000-squater meter property along Marcos highway to serve as the new staging area of the generated residual waste in the city before it will be transported to the sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac.
The local chief executive claimed the local government and the hauler are aware of the prescribed deadline by a local court in Benguet in which the garbage transfer station in Puguis, La Trinidad, Benguet should be closed that is why the hauler is working double time to develop his property to serve as the new transfer station while the city is trying to work a permanent solution to the garbage disposal problem that will result to the stoppage of the expensive hauling of waste outside the city.
“We continue aggressively seek for lasting solutions to our garbage disposal problems that is why we are setting our sights to the conversion of the former Antamok open pit site to a waste-to-energy facility to put an end to the expensive hauling of garbage to the sanitary landfill in Tarlac,” Domogan stressed.
He added the construction of Itogon’s temporary residual containment area within a portion of the Antamok open pit site is now underway that is why the city is just awaiting the latest developments on the finalization of the agreement between Benguet Corporation’s partner in the conversion of the open pit area to a waste-to-energy facility and the technology provider for the said renewable energy source.
Earlier, the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of La Trinidad allowed the operation of the garbage hauler’s transfer station in Puguis until December 22, 2017 to allow MA Camilo Trucking and Freight Services to relocate the transfer station to another area after finding merit to the complaints of the affected residents on the alleged pollution caused by the residual waste being transported to the Tarlac sanitary landfill.
For over nine years, the local government spent at least P1 billion for the hauling of city garbage to the various sanitary landfills in Pangasinan and Tarlac to prevent a garbage crisis in the city.
He explained that while the Antamok waste-to-energy facility is still in the drawing board and the proposed Sto. Tomas landfill is still being cleared from claimants and for the road system to be in place, the most feasible mode of disposing the city’s residual waste is through the hauling of waste outside the city to prevent the generated waste from piling up in the transfer station and the pick-up points in the different barangays.
BC’s partner, Goldrich Natural Exploration and Development corporation, is still selecting its technology provider for the proposed waste-to-energy plant in the Antamok open pit site.
By Dexter A. See
