AFTER its first contract expired, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is again asking the City Council to hold another special session today to allow the City Government to conduct emergency procurement of service for its garbage disposal.
In his news conference yesterday, Osmeña said a second emergency procurement will be good for one month and will give them time to go through the regular bidding process for garbage disposal.
Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, who presides over the Council, said he will act accordingly once he will receive the request letter of the mayor.
Regular session
The Council is expected to hold its first regular session for 2017 on Jan. 10 yet, but Labella said they can convene anytime to act on the request of the mayor.
For this year, the City has a total of P121 million approved budget under the Department of Public Services (DPS) for its garbage management.
Emergency
Of the amount, Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez, executive assistant of the mayor, said P26 million will be used for emergency procurement of services this month, while the rest will be used for the remaining months.
Under the purchase request, Fernandez said the estimated unit cost of garbage per ton to be hauled will be P1,400, which will already include the payment for the transfer station, hauling fee and disposal fee.
Fernandez said the amount might be smaller, depending on the offer of the service provider.
Emergency
When the City entered into contract with Jomara Konstruct Corp. during the first emergency procurement of service last December, it used to pay P1,375 for every ton of garbage hauled at the transfer station.
Osmeña said that once the P121 million will be consumed, he will ask for additional budget for garbage disposal.
The mayor said he will continue his plan to source out the garbage disposal of the city because they don’t have enough trucks to throw the garbage outside the city.
Transfer stations
While there is no service provider yet, Osmeña said the City will continue to deposit its garbage at the two transfer stations in Barangay Inayawan.
“We will just let the people know that we will continue collecting the garbage, there’s no compromise on that,” Osmeña said.
Osmeña reiterated that the Environmental and Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 is forcing the City to commit graft.
When EMB ordered the City to shut down the operation of its temporary transfer station at the South Road Properties, Osmeña said the office did not even help the latter on what to do after the closure directive.
The mayor said that EMB did not mention that there is an existing private transfer station that operates in Barangay Inayawan, which is one of the two facilities being utilized by the City.
“They never told us that there is a legal transfer station that exists. That’s negligence, to me it’s criminal negligence. How come they won’t tell us? I think these people are just trying to make money so that we will go to some place or use the Consolacion landfill,” he said.