Ecija LGU inks pact with firm for sanitary landfill

PALAYAN CITY, Nueva Ecija – The city government has signed a lease agreement with a waste-to-energy corporation to put up a sanitary landfill in a 20-hectare area in this provincial capital. The lease agreement was signed between Mayor Romeo Capinpin representing the city government of Palayan and Juanito Ho, chairman of the Ecosci Corporation, a firm based in Diliman, Quezon City. The project is proposed to be set up in Barangay Imelda Valley which has been certified as an ideal site for a sanitary landfill in a joint survey conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Ecosci and a resident geodetic engineer of the city government. Earlier, the city council led by Vice Mayor Moises Carmona Jr. passed Resolution 37 authorizing Capinpin to enter into a lease agreement with Ecosci for the setting up of the waste disposal facility. Under the agreement, the city government as the lessor will lease the facility to the lessee (Ecosci) for a 25-year period renewable for another 25 years at a cost of P700,000 per year. However, this could be increased to P1 million per year when the daily waste disposal has reached 73 trucks per day for 30 consecutive days. The agreement also stipulates that an expansion area of another 20 hectares will be provided for the landfill project. Capinpin said that the project, which will cost P30 million for its first phase, will absorb not only residual wastes produced by the city but the entire province as well. He said the project is in compliance with the provisions of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act which stipulate the closure of open and controlled dumpsites. Lawyer Norberto Coronel, city legal officer, said the landfill project is necessary as the city government already shut down its open dumpsite in Barangay Atate. He admitted that the city now has no available disposal facility following the closure of the Atate dumpsite. Ecosci will commence excavation works in October. The Palayan sanitary landfill is the second known landfill project in the province. A similar project, worth P138-million, is also under construction in a 22-hectare site in the Science City of Munoz some seven kilometers from the city proper, which is projected to absorb up to 150 metric tons of household residual wastes in northern Nueva Ecija. The Munoz facility is expected to operate before the end of the year. – Manny Galvez