Pampanga considers 3 facilities to sustain waste management

INQUIRER FILES

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The Pampanga provincial government is considering three alternative waste management facilities in anticipation of the closure of the Metro Clark Waste Management (MCWM) or Kalangitan landfill on Oct. 5.

Pampanga Gov. Dennis Pineda had earlier requested the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to initiate meetings with the management of the facilities, along with municipal environment officers.

During the meetings, the operators of the waste management facilities presented information relevant to their services and capacity to accommodate Pampanga’s solid waste, estimated at 1,150 metric tons per day.

Pampanga Environment and Natural Resources Officer, engineer Art Punsalan said the Floridablanca Enviro Park Project Corporation, which operates a 91-hectare landfill in Barangay Pabanlag, met with the provincial board on Sept. 23.

A subsidiary of Berjaya Philippines, Inc., the facility can accommodate 3,500 tons of solid waste per day.

Meanwhile, Prime Waste Solutions Inc. located in Barangay Planas, Porac town, whose officials met with the SP members on Sept. 30, has a capacity of 5,000 tons a day.

Operating a 48-hectare solid waste-to-fuel facility, it can reduce waste for final disposal to landfill to only 10 to 20 percent.

Punsalan said the municipal environment officers of Pampanga conducted an ocular inspection at the Prime Waste Solutions Inc. facility on Wednesday to see its actual operations.

Another solid waste facility ready to provide waste management services to LGUs is the Eco Protect Management Corp. in Porac, a 34-hectare landfill with a capacity of 2,500 tons per day.

Punsalan said the main concern of the local government unit (LGU) is to find alternative facilities that are compliant with environmental laws and with capacities sufficient to receive the province’s waste.

On Oct. 1, the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) issued a statement that the publicly bidded contract of services of Metro Clark Waste Management is valid only until Oct. 5.

“The Clark Development Corporation (CDC) is committed to upholding the principles of transparency and adherence to regulations in its operations. The Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill operates under a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) contract, which was publicly bidded and duly approved by the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines in 2000. CDC respects the sub judice rule, thus, it has taken a stand to refrain from commenting on issues now pending before the courts,” the statement said.

With this, CDC accredited Prime Waste Solutions Pampanga Inc. as “the first waste service provider.”

“In our efforts to ensure uninterrupted waste management within Clark, Prime Waste Solutions Pampanga Inc. has been accredited as the first waste service provider,” it stated.

The CDC furthered that it was in the process of accrediting additional applicants who had yet to complete the submission of requirements, and the process would run until Oct. 5.

“Rest assured that CDC will remain steadfast in its commitment to make Clark environmentally sustainable,” the statement ended. (PNA)