Cebu City’s waste getting hauled

Service provider picks up garbage at SRP transfer station, dumps it at Consolacion landfill

City has P9.2 million to cover garbage disposal until the end of the year Jomara Konstruct Corp. charges P1,375 for every ton of garbage it disposes

A PRIVATE service provider started hauling garbage in Cebu City yesterday.

Before leaving for a vacation in Japan yesterday, Mayor Tomas Osmeña announced that the City Government hired Jomara Konstruct Corp. to undertake this.

Jomara, a company based in Minglanilla, will haul the collected garbage stored in the temporary transfer station at the South Road Properties (SRP) and bring it to the final disposal site.

The City conducted an emergency procurement of service last week to choose the service provider to handle garbage disposal after the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill was closed.

The City has P9.2 million in available funds to cover garbage disposal fees until the end of this year.

Expenses all in

Ronald Malacora, chairman of the bids and awards committee, said the City pays the service provider P1,375 for every ton of garbage it disposes.

Malacora said Jomara will dump the garbage in a private landfill in Compostela.

Osmeña said the amount will be inclusive of all the charges, including the use of Jomara’s equipment and trucks and tipping fees, among others.

While this developed, Osmeña said the City will continue using a portion of SRP as a temporary transfer station despite the order of the Environmental Management Bureau 7 to stop its operation.

“What will I do? We’re doing the best we can. We’re going to bid out the P120 million. I asked for P600 million, hinaot pa unta, (hoping) we will be able to take care (of the garbage) for the rest of the year but they (council) don’t want to appropriate P600 million because they want me to suffer,” Osmeña said.

Closing the transfer station

But if he had his way, Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella said he wants the City to stop using the transfer station at the SRP.

“But what is more important now is garbage management because the issue on garbage is life and death,” Labella said.

The council has set aside P120 million for garbage disposal next year in the 2017 annual budget it approved.

Jomara will dispose of the garbage for at least 10 days while the City works on another bidding for next year’s garbage management.

“It’s an advantage because we don’t have to deliver (the garbage to the private landfill). We don’t have the capability of delivering, too many trucks are broken down,” Osmeña told reporters.

Jomara was supposed to dispose of the garbage immediately after Christmas day but due to the typhoon, it wasn’t able to bring its trucks and equipment to the city, Osmeña said.