THE City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (Clenro) chief Edwin Dael said he is confident he will be able to answer issues on why the city has not closed the Zayas open dumpsite upon facing the Ombudsman on October 26.

Dael, together with some previous and present councilors, has been summoned to appear before the Office of the Ombudsman in Davao City next week to explain why the city has failed to comply with the 15-year-old Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, which prescribes standards for waste disposal and segregation.

Dael said the closure of the open dumpsite at Zayas landfill is now 50 percent complete.

The city is close to completing Phase III of the dump’s closure and rehabilitation plan which includes perimeter fencing, leveling of soil and garbage, leachate and gas management, road widening and greening of the old dumpsite perimeter.

Dael said the closure plan is composed of three phases.

Phase 1 costs the City Government a total of P22 million, Phase II costs P38 million and Phase III costs P37.8 million.

The Zayas dumpsite has received countless of complaints including a recent one.

In February 2016, where school administrators at the Pueblo campus of Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan launched a signature campaign seeking to solve the dumpsite problem, which they said, poses health risks to their students.

According to the City Solid Waste and Management Board (CSWMB), the landfill will be transformed into a tree park.

Over the course of the dumpsite rehabilitation, Elvisa Mabelin of the CSWMB said they have grouped the scavengers and assigned them to lead tree planting activities.

At present, a variety of teakwood, acacia, narra and golden shower trees were transplanted in the Zayas dumpsite.