Econ council defers firm’s bid to buy Danao property
THE Capitol’s Economic Enterprise Council (EEC) yesterday deferred approval of a company’s application to lease another property in Danao City for their waste-to-energy plant.
Acting Cebu Gov. Agnes Magpale said Waste Management Inc. proposed to lease a five hectare property near the home of Danao City Mayor Nito Durano after learning that the Balili lot in Naga City faced legal problems.
The company was supposed to set up the waste management facility there.
“They asked to buy a property instead. There was an agreement from the 13 mayors to set up a waste-to-energy facility within Cebu,” Magpale said.
The acting governor said the council needed to revisit the agreement signed between WMI and the Capitol by consulting its financial and technical consultants.
Provincial Attorney Marino Martinquilla will also detail the sequence of events leading to the approval of the project.
“I have been sitting here for about two months and I don’t know much about the agreements made,” Magpale said.
Magpale said the lot in Danao City is within the industrial zone and is near the home of Mayor Nito Durano.
“I asked them to check with Danao City since there is also a plan to put up a subdivision somewhere there,” she said.
Magpale said they will have to study whether it’s feasible to have a waste to energy plant near a residential area.
Last year, the Provincial Board (PB) deferred the approval of a resolution seeking to authorize suspended Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to enter into a contract with a private firm for a waste to energy plant in the Balili property in Naga City.
The draft contract said Cebu would enter into an agreement with WMI.
In her presentation last year, Garcia mentioned the Sinova consortium as part of her plans for a Proposed Tina-an Eco-Zone Development Plan.
Among the projects listed in the plan were a port, a light industry, manufacturing services firms, a water reservoir and an eco-park.
Garcia said they already prepared a contract for the bidder, Sinova Consortium, which plans to build a US $150 million facility.
Sinova will rent seven hectares in the Balili property and use another two hectares for a sanitary landfill.
Sinova is expected to pay P30 per square meter on the lot or about P800,000 rental.
Garcia said the province would receive a two percent share from the gross revenue of the facility or a projected P850 million in 25 years.
The waste-to-energy plant will be built on a build-operate-transfer scheme. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus
