Landfill ready by yearend, says Abalos

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Benjamin Abalos, Sr. gave his assurance yesterday that the proposed sanitary landfill in Rodriguez, Rizal, will be ready before the year ends.

Abalos said that the roads leading to the site are already being constructed by the MMDA with the help of the Philippine Army Engineering Brigade.

The MMDA was ordered by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo herself to speed up the development of the Rodriguez landfill to provide an immediate solution to the garbage crisis in Metro Manila.

Arroyo announced the other day that the garbage piled on Pier 18 would immediately be shipped to Bataan where a landfill site is already available.

The first shipment to Bataan consists of garbage left at the Pier 18 transfer station during the term of President Joseph Estrada.

It would be recalled that the MMDA was supposed to ship the garbage to Semirara in Antique but was barred because of a court order and tremendous opposition from various sectors.

The Bataan site is said to already have an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

According to Abalos, he was given instructions by the President to come up with as many dumpsites as possible to service Metro Manila’s over 6,000 tons of daily garbage.

Abalos said that any site could be used as long as it has already been issued an ECC.

He also stressed that all of the sites would be equipped with a waste segregation facility to reduce the actual amount of waste that would be dumped in landfills.

Only 30 percent or less of the total garbage brought from the source would eventually land in the landfill as a result of the segregation. – Marvin Sy