CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Government will have to explain to the United Nations if the Waste-to-Energy Gasification Facility Project remains unimplemented until the year ends.
This after the project is not implemented since it was registered as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Project 4669 with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on July 18, 2011.
Endesa Carbono, a Spanish carbon procurement company, facilitated the registration of the project under the CDM-UNFCCC in 2007 and prepared the Project Design Document (PDD) that was completed last year. Last January was supposedly the start of the crediting period.
The city government and the company to undertake the WTE, in this proposal the Greenergy Solutions Inc. (GSI), must submit to UN and to the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources the progress and compliance report of the project next month.
“If the project is not implemented this year, Greenergy and the Cebu City Government shall submit an explanation or justification to the UNFCCC and the Philippine Government why the project has been delayed implementation and operation,” GSI President and Chief Operations Officer Dr. Bernardo Tadeo said in his follow-up letter to Councilor Nida Cabrera last week.
Tadeo told Cabrera in his letter that the GSI is willing to present to the council and answer questions or clarifications about the project.
Tadeo has also furnished the Office of the President, DENR secretary, and the Office of the Ombudsman of his letter.
The executive department headed by Mayor Michael Rama and the Solid Waste Management Board (SWMB) have already expressed their support to the proposed WTE. Only the council’s concurrence and authority is needed so the Mayor can sign the contract and the project may proceed.
SWMB presiding officer and lawyer Janeses “Jade” Ponce said that not only GSI but the executive department is awaiting the action of the council on the matter.
Ponce said it has been two months since the project was endorsed to the council, but no action was made.
The project is still with the Committee on Environment for review. The Committee is headed by Cabrera who is also a member of the SWMB.
Ponce said it is puzzling why the council is taking its time in deciding on the matter while the very project was already endorsed in at least two council resolutions in the past.
Ponce told reporters that time is of the essence because the diversion of garbage to a private landfill in Consolacion may not last long.
Earlier, landfill manager Randy Navarro said that Consolacion’s first garbage cell is almost full and the construction of the second garbage cell is yet to be completed. The landfill also continues to receive about 60 percent of the city’s garbage because not everything can be transported to Consolacion due to lack of equipment.
Ponce said the UNFCCC registration might go to other LGU if the city will further delay the implementation of the project.
The project will cost about P4 billion. GSI and its foreign partners will finance the project at no cost to the city government. The project will be under a 25-year agreement.
GSI earlier said the delay in the project might discourage the investors.
Other stakeholders earlier also appealed to city officials to spare the project from political conflicts.
“We request for sound judgment and urgency for the implementation of this project. We keep our faith in the environmental advocacy that we both share,” Tadeo said. - THE FREEMAN