City eyes Urdaneta to solve garbage woes

WHILE the City Government searches for a long-term solution to its garbage problems, negotiations with a private garbage contractor in Urdaneta City are being pursued to lessen expenses in tipping and hauling fees.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Rhodora Flores of N4TH Enterprises for the dumping of some 70 tons of garbage at the Urdaneta City engineered sanitary landfill.

In the past months, the city hauled residual wastes unprocessed by the Environmental Recycling System (ERS) machines to Capas, Tarlac but the mayor said debts have piled up as the city continues to scramble for funds for mounting tipping and hauling fees.

Domogan said they don’t want to implement the MOA to dump in Urdaneta when the needed funds are unavailable.

He said conditions set by the private garbage contractor include a 25 percent surcharge for every five days of delay.

The mayor emphasized the city will save more once it starts hauling garbage to Urdaneta City.

Domogan said the city will save as much as P300 for every ton of garbage hauled in Urdaneta as it will no longer have to pay for road user’s tax being collected by two municipalities the garbage trucks traverse before reaching the private dump in Capas.

He said this would only peg the expenses at P800 hauling fee and P500 tipping fee, or P1,300 per ton of garbage compared to the usual P1,600 to P1,800 spent per ton of garbage dumped in Capas.

Vice Mayor Daniel Fariñas, meanwhile, assured Committee on Environment chairman Councilor Erdolfo Balajadia, who acts as City Solid Waste Management Board representative in the City Council, that they will act on the budget of garbage tipping and hauling fees so as not to further delay and impede the collection of garbage in barangays. (JM Agreda)