CEBU City officials cannot agree what constitutes odor and how much odor they can tolerate at the Inayawan sanitary landfill, which is causing a delay in the bidding of the privatization of the facility.

Five private companies expressed interest to join the bidding, but four of them objected to the P150-million required minimum investment.

City Administrator Francisco Fernandez, chairman of the bids and awards committee (BAC), said that some of the probable bidders said they can operate and manage the landfill with an investment of only P30 million.

Privatization

According to the terms of reference for the privatization of the facility, a minimum investment of P150 million is required from the contractor to set up an odor stabilization system and to convert the landfill into an open public park, leaving only a portion of land to be used as a residual waste disposal area.

Fernandez said that during the pre-bidding conference last Tuesday, the bidders raised some issues that remained unresolved.

“First, they asked what is odorless, or how do we know if the landfill is odorless or not? Are there objective questionnaires that can be answered to check if it’s already odorless? So we have to consult a lot of experts and people on this and review some laws,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.

Government

The City Government prioritized the privatization of the landfill fearing that the stench will affect the marketability of the 302-hectare South Road Properties (SRP).

The landfill is located at the boundary of the SRP, and just a few hundred meters from Bigfoot Entertainment complex, the first locator in the reclaimed properties.

Councilor Augustus Pe Jr., the deputy mayor for the landfill, said the winning bidder will be asked to set up an odor measuring equipment at the landfill once the contract
is awarded, which will determine if the odor is within the acceptable standards.

“How do you qualify odor? The terms of reference are specific and state that there should be no odor at the landfill once it’s privatized. But what is tolerable odor? That has to be answered,” he said. (LCR)

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(January 9, 2009 issue)
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