Board finalizes city solid waste plan

ILOILO CITY – The technical working group of this city’s solid waste management board chaired by Mayor Jerry P. Treñas is finalizing the solid waste management plan to beat the deadline of the national government’s grant of 40 percent from its national SWM Program for local government units.

This was announced by Treñas after a meeting with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and DENR Secretary Lito Atienza recently to discuss the many provisions of Republic Act 9003 and other environmental laws.

Treñas said the city may foresee a bigger grant from the national government should its SWM Plan be implemented immediately within this year.

The city chief executive is also ordering the fasttrack implementation of projects at the Calajunan disposal area in a move to convert the same into a sanitary landfill.

The city has contracted a P90 million loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines and 8 projects are already completed, 4 ongoing projects, 1 project already awarded and 5 are for checking.

The completed projects at the Calajunan dumpsite include the cleaning of garbage mounds, concrete paving, drainage system, administration building, lighting around perimeter fence, parking and washbay, storage area, closure of old dumps with soil cover and site preparation by cleaning, leveling and soil topping.

Ongoing projects are the weighbridge, building for curing area, MRF expansion area and construction of perimeter fence.

Already awarded was the installation of water supply and sanitation system and on checking are the leachate collection and storage system, lagoon and leachate recirculation, compost treatment system, gad pipes, monitoring wells and improvement of Calajunan access road.

Treñas said several project initiatives are being implemented by the board and the city government. Among these are the agreement between the city and Holcim Corp. to get the plastic garbage at the old dumpsite and send it to the Holcim plant in Mizamis for fuel of its cement plant.

Holcim will extend its activity until end of this year to help reduce a big volume of plastic garbage and provide an adequate space at the dumpsite for other projects such as eco-park at the cleaned-up area

The ongoing barangay sanitation officers training are conducted at the barangay level in a move to deputize barangay officials in the implementation of RA 9003. The board’s enforcement team is currently going around the barangays to ensure proper implementation of the program.

Another initiative is the ongoing search for the cleanest and greenest barangay, plaza and district with cash prizes as incentives to barangay councils. The search started April 1 to June 30 for the barangay level and July 1 to September 30, 2009 for the plaza and district levels.

Treñas admitted that his administration is pursuing all these clean and green initiatives in all 180 barangays here as a contribution to the total national efforts on solid waste management and climate change.

By Lydia C. Pendon