Waste board wants city to hire private company

CEBU, Philippines- The Cebu City Solid Waste Management Board has recommended to Mayor Michael Rama for the city government to engage the services of a private company with the capability to manage, operate, and maintain a waste transfer station.

 Lawyer Janeses Ponce, chairman of SWMB, said that private service provider is better than having a city-owned transfer station since delays will be attributed to the government processes.

As of now, the city government has a temporary station at the warehouse of Inayawan Barangay Captain Lutherlee Ignacio. The temporary station is at no cost to the city and it caters the barangays in the south that has no capability to dispose its garbage at the private landfill in Consolacion.

The problem on transporting the garbage from 80 barangays in the city to the landfill in Consolacion started after the Inayawan landfill was officially closed in January 15.

“In Cebu City’s south district alone which consists of 34 barangays have a total of about seventy number of garbage collection trucks which if all are required to travel all the way to Polog, Consolacion would contribute tremendously in the worsening traffic jam along the highways leading from Cebu City South District to Mandaue City as well as Consolacion municipality,” the resolution read.

“The long term financial cost to operate, maintain and manage a transportation system that requires all barangay garbage trucks to deliver their collected waste directly to the sanitary landfill at Polog, Consolacion as well as the loss of precious man-hours as well as contributing to Metro Cebu’s traffic woes is simply too staggering,” it added.

Having the transfer station is the “immediate and most viable” solution to address the problem, SWMB said.

Under the approved resolution, Department of Public Services head Rolando Ardosa raised the motion for the engagement of a private service provider with the capability to operate a transfer station.

The transfer station “shall function as a temporary receiving facility for municipal solid waste collected by barangay garbage collection trucks which in turn shall be transferred to bigger long distance haulers for transport and disposal at the designated engineered sanitary landfill.”

The resolution added that the private station should have not less than 2,000 square meters and should be enclosed with concrete walls and have proper roofing. It should have a proper drainage system for containment. The resolution was forwarded to the Office of the City Mayor.

Rama earlier opposed the proposal of City Councilor Ma. Nida Cabrera to reopen portion of the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill as transfer station, saying that there are legal, health, and environmental issues to consider. (FREEMAN)