The City Solid Waste Management Board has chosen the waste-to-energy technology from Germany Dominion Clean Energy to solve the current problems of solid waste management in Baguio.
General Services Officer Romeo Concio said Mayor Mauricio Domogan chose Dominion Clean Energy’s proposal to provide a solution to the mounting solid waste management woes at no cost to the city.
The City Government has chosen the proposal over the Belgian waste to coal technology that would have been provided by ENEXT Philippines, another “at no cost to the city” deal, after it advertised its need for another technology to solve its mounting garbage hauling expenses already reaching more than a hundred million pesos.
This after its agreement with waste solution provider Pro Tech Machineries Corporation in hauling garbage was halted due to the failure of the company to haul out residuals due to different interpretation of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).
Concio said they are now finalizing the terms of reference for the agreement with Dominion Clean Energy, including the final proposal and the statement of benefits that will derived by the city from the new technology.
All these documents will be submitted to the City Council for approval, Concio said.
The City Council for several sessions scrutinized city officials, including Mayor Domogan and Pro Tech executive Luis Lu Jr after the P128 million Environmental Recycling System (ERS) procured by the city “failed to live up to its promises and provisions of the MOA it signed with the City Government.”
This impasse in the hauling of garbage and the zero return of investments from the produced fertilizers of the multimillion ERS machines
Concio said the proposal of Dominion Clean Energy will still be forwarded to the National Economic Development Authority for approval.
Dominion Clean Energy is proposing to build an eight-megawatt waste to energy plant, promising to provide the land, build the needed infrastructure and install its waste to energy machinery in a span of 15 months.
The firm also said they will haul out garbage in the barangays providing the trucks and equipment at no cost to the city.
The wastes to energy facility will not only process biodegradable wastes unlike the ERS machines but also non-biodegradable wastes, as Concio relayed the machines would be processing mixed wastes without the need for segregation.
The facility would require a minimum of 200 tons of garbage daily for the facility to produce electricity.
At present, the city is producing only some 160 tons of garbage daily, Concio said.
But with the additional garbage coming from other big time waste contributors like malls, the city’s export processing zone, Camp John Hay and hotels, the city is expecting to reach the minimum required garbage input to make the project feasible.
The GSO chief stressed the waste solution provider will not be requiring the city to purchase the electricity it produces as it will be selling this to the National Power Corporation and the electricity spot market.
The company will require the city to pay some P1,200 tipping fee per ton while the city will assist the firm in acquiring the needed local permits and licenses.
The shares in revenues from the produced electricity, he said, will be endorsed back to the company to cover capital investment and cost of maintenance and operation.
As guarantee to the performance quality of the waste solution provider, the City Government will be requiring the company to post a P30 million performance bond until 90 days of full operation or until the facility’s operations are efficient and continuous.
“We will make sure that once this technology fails, the performance bond will be forfeited in favor of the city including the land of the waste to energy plant, the building, the machines and other equipment,” Concio said.
“We have nothing to lose, but everything to gain from this project,” he said.
