Pampanga execs eyeing purchase of Capas landfill

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines  – Faced with mounting garbage at a rate of at least 33,000 tons every month, provincial leaders led by Gov. Lilia Pineda agreed in a meeting here over the weekend to negotiate the purchase of the 100-hectare, German-technology sanitary landfill in Barangay Kalangitan in Capas, Tarlac.

“The rate for dumping there is not affordable to local government units and it could be more economical to purchase it,” Pineda said, pointing out the health hazards posed by illegal dumps still in operation in some parts of Pampanga.

The Capas landfill belongs to the Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. (MCWMC) and is estimated to cost P400 million when completely finished. It started operations in 2002 under a 25-year build-operate-transfer scheme.

Pineda met with Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan and first district Rep. Carmelo Lazatin to discuss the re-negotiations with the MCWMC for the purchase of the sanitary landfill.

The MCWMC charges about P4,000 per ton of garbage dumped in the landfill, an amount which local governments could not afford, Pineda said.

She said she recently talked to the MCWMC management to ask for a 50 percent discount for Pampanga, as she noted that while the landfill is largely in Capas, Tarlac, portions of it are within Pampanga. So far, she said she has not received any response from the MCWMC management.