A CHINESE company is interested in establishing a waste-to-energy (WTE) facility to help the Cebu Provincial Government solve its solid waste management concerns.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said the matter was raised during her meeting with People’s Republic of China Consul General Jia Li on July 5, 2019, after the latter heard about her “interest to look into putting up WTE plants.”
A WTE plant is a waste management facility that burns trash to produce electricity.
“We will probably give them an audience. But, of course, this has to go through the proper process,” Garcia said.
Setting up a WTE facility, said Garcia, could be achieved through a build-transfer-operate scheme, unsolicited proposal or bidding.
Li told the governor that New Sky, a Chinese enterprise operating in Cebu, is involved in garbage disposal.
“They plan to build a refuse power station in Cebu with a disposable capacity of 800 tons a day. We will be speaking with them as soon as possible. They are interested in putting up this refuse power station,” Garcia said on Friday, Aug. 2.
The Chinese firm had already done its initial research for the refuse power station; it plans to invest around $100 million for the project’s initial stage.
Apart from the procurement process, Garcia said they will also discuss the location for the project, among others.
Before she won the gubernatorial race in the May 13 elections, Garcia had said that establishing a WTE plant would provide a “win-win” solution as it would make garbage a source of energy.
Establishing a sanitary landfill would be tedious, and it would be inefficient because it operates on a limited life span, according to Garcia.
The Capitol, under Garcia’s administration, will no longer pursue the proposed sanitary landfill in Barangay Dawis Sur, Carmen town in northern Cebu.
Aside from keeping her campaign promise to the Dawis Sur residents, Garcia has stressed the need to preserve the vegetation in the mountains of Carmen to protect the water supply coming from Luyang River. (RTF)