DENR makes own plans to solve trash problem

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is drafting plans to put up a sanitary landfill facility through a $250-million reclamation project in the Manila Bay off Navotas to solve Metro Manila’s garbage disposal problem.

"This is an option we will have to take if local government units continue to insist on the NIMBY (Not in my Backyard) attitude," DENR Secretary Heherson Alvarez told reporters yesterday.

He said the department, through its corporate arm, the National Resources and Development Corp. (NRDC), has been holding talks with the Japanese corporations Mitsui and Mitsubishi, the main proponents of the project, which aims to reclaim 78 hectares of land from the sea.

He said the proposed sanitary landfill project off Manila Bay would be patterned after the reclamation project off Tokyo Bay in Japan.

"The Japanese have shown us that it can be done," Alvarez said. "In fact, they have been using the technology in the last 50 years."

The DENR secretary said he foresees the project as a "long-term" solution to Metro Manila’s worsening garbage problem.

Alvarez said that funding for the project would be loaned from the Obuchi Fund of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at "a very low" annual interest rate of 0.75 percent. "This is practically a grant because of the unusually low interest," said the DENR secretary, adding that the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) is now studying the proposal.

He said that other proposals being considered by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) may prove to be more expensive than the reclamation project. These include out-of-town sanitary landfills in Pampanga, Bicol and Cabanatuan City. "The transportation costs alone are prohibitive," said Alvarez.

Alvarez said the project would be carried out under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) arrangement.

He said the reclamation site may be transformed into an industrial city after seven years.

"This way, the investments poured in by government could be recouped," he said. "That’s what the Japanese did with portions of Tokyo Bay – on the site now rises Japan’s Science City."

Meanwhile, Alvarez said he hoped the MMDA would be able to reach an agreement with Rodriguez town Mayor Pedro Cuerpo for the establishment of an interim garbage site in the town.

Cuerpo has offered a converted dumpsite as a garbage disposal facility for Metro Manila – a move that quickly drew flak from Rodriguez residents.

Alvarez said his office did not have to issue an environmental compliance certificate for the landfill because the Ecological Waste Management Act of 2000 provides for the conversion of open dumpsites into a controlled dump.

"They are not yet constructing a sanitary landfill but a controlled disposal facility," said Alvarez. "But we’re really leaving it to Mayor Cuerpo to make the decision."

Last week, the Metro Manila Mayor’s League (MMML) agreed to ask the DENR to find permanent garbage sites for Metro Manila. "As in the past, the DENR has been an effective partner of LGUs and other government entities in the formulation of solid waste management plans," said Alvarez. "We will continue to conduct studies and assessments for controlled dumpsites and sanitary landfills in sites already identified by local authorities." – Romel Bagares