COUNCILOR Temujin Ocampo revealed that the city government intends to revive the Waste-to-Energy (WTE) project with the Japanese government as partner entity.
During the Aprubado sa Konseho media forum on Tuesday, Ocampo, committee chair on environment and natural resources, said:
“With regards to WTE, nag-engage ta karon sa Japanese government through JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and there’s a possibility that they will assist us,” Ocampo told reporters.
As the committee chair, he already filed a resolution in the 20th City Council in February, expressing the intention to continue with the project, which will be pursued through a build-operate-transfer or private-public partnership.
In this setup, Ocampo said the Japanese government will finance the construction, while the city government is responsible for land acquisition and necessary permits.
To recall, JICA conducted a study in 2015 on the project’s viability in the city and proposed partially funding the establishment in 2016. The proposed facility will have a capacity of about 600 metric tons of waste, and produce 12 megawatts of energy.
The City Environment and Natural Resources Office collects 650- 800 tons of garbage daily, and the sanitary landfill in New Carmen has been maximized to its full capacity.
The Japanese government has provided a grant of P2.5 billion while the remaining funds would come from the national government. However, as Mayor Sebastian Duterte stated in his state of the city address in August last year, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources halted the proposal.
This time, the city government will no longer need to release funds for the project, but the Japanese government will shoulder all the expenses.
Ocampo said JICA will conduct another feasibility study to determine whether the previous proposal is still viable, given the fluctuating prices of construction materials.
The Japanese government has already commenced the study, but no fixed date has yet been set for its completion.
