City to impose P250 tipping fee for private septic haulers

CEBU, Philippines -  The Cebu City government is planning to implement a tipping fee of P250 per cubic meter for private septic haulers that will deposit wastes at the new septic treatment plant at the North Reclamation Area.

Jade Ponce, head of the Septic Management Board, said that they are continuously monitoring if tests on the operations of the facility is successful.

In July this year, the city said that the STP has shifted to full-blown operations after two months of test runs.

Ponce said yesterday that if the tests conducted at the STP would be successful, the private septic haulers would be required to pay after setting down the wastes that were collected.

“As of now, testing pa man ni so wa pa ni sila’y bayad kay this is to study pud sa mga kinahanglan nga facilities. Naghuwat pa man ta nga magpada ang Japan og machines. And mao ni nakanindot sa pilot study, di lang kay suwa-suwat kundi ma-apply ug maka-determine jud ta sa mga gikinahanglan,” he said.

Ponce explained that they are still on the adjustment period since the ordinance on the Septage Management Program was just passed last June which resulted into the creation of the SMB.

“Mao na na among gi-set run kay at least nakakita name sa dagan sa facility. Bag-o pa man ang pagbutang sa board ug sa ordinance. So as of now, ipaanad sa namo ang mga taw karun sa bag-ong paagi,” he said.

In a month, the city government expects a P1.5 million income from the tipping fee collection, or around P50,000 a day, since the facility can process 200 cubic meters of septic waste for one whole month.

The P250 tipping fee is based on factors identified by SMB as power, water, consumables, manpower and administration.

They have also set the determinants for the tipping fees which depend upon the volume of metering, the weight and the assumption of task capacity.

The facility was funded by Japanese company, Amcon Inc., which manufactured and shouldered the expenses of the installation of the facility at NRP while Japan International Cooperation Agency helped the company process its papers. —/ATO (FREEMAN)