Capitol inks deal with private firm for Kepco’s coal ash

THE Capitol yesterday signed an agreement with FDRCON Co. Inc. to accept the disposal of coal ash from the Kepco SPC Power Corp.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia’s move came after the court ruling dismissing Capitol’s motion to allow the use of the province-owned Balili property as a coal-ash disposal area.

FDRCON, which has a landfill facility in barangay Pangdan, Naga City, has offered to receive the ash from Kepco for proper disposal or for recycling for a fee.

Under the agreement, Kepco will pay one dollar per metric ton of ash disposed at the facility.

But if FDRCON decides to recycle the ash, it will pay one dollar per metric ton of ash recycled to Capitol.

The landfill facility has a total area of 1.44 hectares and can accommodate a total of 180,000 cubic meters of ash.

The transport of the ash will also conform to the existing environmental safety rules.

FDRCON was also required to secure within 20 days an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Disposal of the ash is still subject to the conditions that may be imposed by Branch 28 of the Regional Trial Court of Mandaue City in relation to Environmental Case No. MAN-6461.

KSPC will also pay a tipping fee of P150,000 exclusive of VAT per metric ton of ash delivered to the landfill facility to FDRCON.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, in an interview, cited the shortage of power supply in the province.

Garcia also said that if they couldn’t dispose the coal ash, then there would likely be rotating brownouts in Cebu. /Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus