THE Pampanga provincial government has identified three alternative waste management facilities in the province in anticipation of the closure of the Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill in Capas, Tarlac this month owned by the Metro Clark Waste Management.
Earlier, Pampanga Governor Dennis “Delta” Pineda requested the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to initiate meetings with the management of the three facilities along with municipal environment officers.
Operators of the waste management facilities presented information relevant to their services and capacity to accommodate Pampanga’s solid waste, which is estimated at 1,150 metric tons per day.
According to Pampanga Environment and Natural Resources Officer Engineer Art Punzalan the identified landfill facilities are Floridablanca Enviro-Park Project Corporation, which operates a 91-hectare landfill in Barangay Pabanlag, Floridablanca; Prime Waste Solutions Inc. located in Barangay Planas, Porac and Eco Protect Management Corporation also in Porac town.
He said the Floridablanca Enviro-Park Project Corporation, a subsidiary of Berjaya Philippines Inc. can accomodate 3,500 tons of solid waste daily. Prime Waste Solutions Inc. can accomodate 5,000 tons of solid waste per day while the Eco Protect Management Corp. has a capacity of 2,500 tons per day.
Officials of the three landfill facilities met with members of the provincial board last month followed by an occular inspection last week.
Punzalan said the LGU’s main concern is to find alternative facilities that are compliant with the environmental laws and with capacities sufficient to receive the province’s waste.
“Gusto kasi ni governor na nakahanda tayo kaya isa-isa natin silang pinapatawag upang mabigyan ng pagkakataon na ilatag ang kanilang serbisyo at sinisiguro namin na aprubado ng DENR ang mga facilities na ito,” Punzalan said.
On October 1, 2024, the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) issued a statement that the publicly bidded contract of services of Metro Clark Waste Management is valid only until October 5, 2024.
Because of this development officials of MCWM went to court to prevent CDC from terminating their contract.
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.
But on October 21, 2024, the Angeles City Regional Trial Court dismissed the complaint filed by MCWM officials seeking to include an automatic renewal clause to the 25-year contract for services over the 100-hectare Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill with CDC.
With this, CDC had already 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,” CDC said in a statement. (UnliNews Online)
