First steps for power plant at Inayawan landfill

CEBU, Philippines - The city government has started looking into the viability of the unsolicited proposal of Filinvest Development Corp. to convert the Inayawan landfill into a waste-to-energy power plant.

City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete, head of the Technical Working Group, said they will ask FDC for a more detailed proposal, particularly on the roles of the parties involved in the joint venture.

The initial proposal FDC submitted reportedly provided only an overview of the project.

“We will ask them to present a more detailed proposal. We will also have them (FDC) meet the members of the JVSC (Joint Venture Selection Committee). We want to know the overall concept and how it will be done,” Poblete said.

In a letter sent by FDC Director Andrew Gotianun Jr. to the city a few months ago, the power plant FDC plans to put up at the Inayawan Sanitary landfill will have an initial capacity of at least 500 tons of waste per day, which will reportedly generate 20 megawatts of power.

About 90 percent of energy generated will be used by a desalination plant to convert seawater into fresh water through reverse osmosis, which will address Cebu City’s water needs.

Gotianun said that the modern waste management technology they will be using is widely used in Germany, China and other countries.

The project will cost an estimated $30 million or between P1.3 billion to P1.4 billion. Filinvest and the city government will finance 35 percent while the remaining 65 percent shall be sourced out from external loans.

Under the proposal, the project will be implemented within 25 years, which is renewable for another 20 years. After this term, the full operation of the project will be transferred to the city government.

Filinvest’s proposal is unsolicited although there had been various internal proposals for the landfill since it has already existed past its lifetime. The Inayawan landfill was designed and built by Japanese experts to last for 15 years only or until 2003.

The City is spending close to P70 million a year for solid waste management, including the operation of garbage trucks and the maintenance of the landfill.

The project does not only intend to address the problem of garbage disposal, but would spare the city the headache of looking for an alternative site for a landfill. If the plan pushes through, the city is expected to benefit from the power plant in several ways, including additional source of electricity amid power shortage. (FREEMAN)