City puts in place plans as landfill set to close

The Cebu City government is planning to use a lot owned by Inayawan barangay captain Rustom Ignacio for a transfer station once the planned closure of the landfill is implemented on Nov. 7.

Even as Mayor Michael Rama plans to send starting next week representatives to discuss with officials of Consolacion town and Naga City, the alternative garbage diversion sites, about the city’s garbage program.

Rama said he was even considering visiting Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes to discuss the use of Mandaue City roads for the transport of Cebu City’s garbage to Consolacion.

The Mandaue City government has earlier banned the Cebu City garbage trucks from using Mandaue City’s roads to transport garbage to Consolacion.

On the planned transfer station, Cebu City Councilor Edu Rama Jr., City Council’s public services chairman, said the city could lease Ignacio’s property located close to the landfill to receive garbage from the barangays and load these into leased trucks that would bring these garbage to the diversion sites.

“We intend to just lease at least 10 trucks to bring garbage to the designated sites. Dili siya risgo unya mas ekonomiya pa,” Rama told Cebu Daily News.

Mayor Rama would have wanted landfill activities stopped starting on Oct. 1. But the plan was postponed to Nov. 7 because of problems on the route that city garbage trucks would take on its way to the privately run garbage facility in Pulog, Consolacion.

There were also the concerns on the condition of barangay garbage trucks to travel long distances and the capacity of the Asian Energy Systems Corp. to only accommodate one garbage truck at a time inside their facility.

Rama said the city is putting up a transfer station and lease garbage trucks to transport garbage to Consolacion town.

He said they are also considering the possibility of using the garbage facility in Naga City as an alternative diversion site.

Meanwhile, Councilor Nida Cabrera, environment committee chairperson, said confusion on who should attend the Solid Waster Management Board meetings resulted in few people attending.

Cabrera said that there seems to be confusion on who among the old and the new board members should be attending the meetings.

She said that while the mayor’s office already released last August the board’s new composition, its new members were not issued appointment papers.