Projects worth P3.5B pushed for landfill

CEBU, Philippines - A Korean-based company is proposing sustainable mixed-use development projects worth P3.5 billion at the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill.

Cebu City Administrator Dr. Lucelle Mercado, chairperson of the joint venture committee, however, refused to disclose the name of the company because the technical working group is still reviewing and collating more information on the proposal and its proponent.

Still, she said the proposal is a “very huge” project designed to recover the lot to establish multi-purpose developments including the construction of a park.

The project will be under a public-private partnership scheme, which will entail no cost to the city.

Lawyer Jade Ponce, member of the JV-TWG and chairman of the city’s Land Management Council, said the conglomerate company will convert, rehabilitate, and develop the landfill.

He said the project is seen to increase the revenue collection of the city and to boost the marketability of the South Road Properties.

“For many years we have been looking for solutions. And now, there is a proposal looking forward into the final conversion of the landfill-meaning we have to mine it out, remediate and control the leachate and convert it into future mix-use combination of a park and multi use commercial establishments,” Ponce told The Freeman.

He said the landfill has been a long overdue problem that needs immediate proper aid.

“Dili na matawag na sanitary landfill because beyond its engineering purposes and uncontrolled. Its continued presence will affect the marketability of the SRP, so we have to act and address it now through this upcoming project,” he said.

The 15-hectare facility, which was built and funded in 1998 by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, has been in operation for 15 years already.

The P209-million landfill was designed to last only for seven years and was supposed to be closed in 2005 yet.

Armando V. Mendoza and Associates, a Cebu-based consultancy firm, earlier proposed a P540 million rehabilitation plan and the building of a private landfill in barangay Agsungot. The proposal, though, did not prosper.

The proposal, however, includes the removal, transportation of approximately 500,000 cubic meters of old garbage, disposal operations and rehabilitation of the five-hectare sanitary landfill including the treatment and final soil cover.

Based on their proposal, the old garbage from Inayawan will be disposed in the new landfill that they planned to build on a private lot in barangay Agsungot.

Mendoza said their proposal will save the city government at least P200 million since the city will no longer buy new lot.

Also, he said that rehabilitating the landfill would also mean P740 million savings for the city because it does not anymore need to transfer outside the city the one million cubic meters of existing garbage. – Kristine B. Quintas/JMO (FREEMAN)