P80 Million Waste-To-Energy Facility To Be Constructed In Dagupan This 2017

The City Government of Dagupan has found a proponent that is willing to build the P80-million proposed waste-to-energy facility at its own expense.

City Legal Officer Victoria Cabrera bared this during a public hearing conducted by City Council on February 7.

Discussed during the hearing were the short-term solutions to the present garbage problem in the city brought about by the closure of its more than 50-year-old dumpsite last January 21.

The dumpsite was ordered closed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Cabrera said the waste-to-energy project has attracted one proponent, which intends to build the project at its own expense, or without a single centavo from the city coffers, but in turn will take all the profits from the sale of diesel fuel that will be produced out of solid wastes to be delivered by the local government to its waste conversion plant.

“Though we already have one proponent, it has yet to undergo meticulous evaluation from members of the selection committee,” she said, adding that the committee includes some members of the City Council and other officials and experts tapped by the City Government to share some technical inputs concerning the project.

Cabrera assured barangay chairmen and other city officials that the selection committee will make sure that whoever will be awarded the project can properly handle the job.

The selection committee will next recommend the proponent for acceptance by Mayor Belen Fernandez, and then the proponent will have to undergo several other processes before it can finally implement the project.

“We hope this year the project can be hopefully implemented. We are positive that before the first quarter of this year, we can already take one initial step,” Cabrera said. “Perhaps in March, the local government can take one step concerning the establishment of the waste conversion facility.”

In the meantime, Cabrera called for full cooperation of barangay chairmen and their respective constituents by strictly observing waste segregation, re-using, recycling and composting to reduce the wastes in the city.

For now, the waste management division will collect the residual wastes to be compacted in the main Material Recovery Facility (MRF) near the city’s dumpsite, while the biodegradable wastes will be retained by the barangays in their respective MRFs to be composted and converted into organic fertilizers.

Meanwhile, negotiations to bring some of the residual wastes of Dagupan to the Urdaneta City sanitary landfill are on-going.

Source: Sunstar PH