CEBU City Administrator Floro Casas Jr. on Friday, July 2, 2021, said Docast Construction will be allowed to fulfill its contract to collect and dispose of garbage.
“We do not see a reason to terminate (the contract). Unless there’s a compelling reason to terminate, we will not,” Casas said.
The Cebu City Council, which is looking into the state of solid waste management in the city, will hold another special session on July 8 to continue the discussion.
Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama, who served as acting mayor for three weeks from June 9 to 30, discovered that Docast has failed to comply with some of its obligations under Purchase Order (PO) 080.
He asked Docast last week to submit a written explanation for its failure to deliver some of its commitments under the contract.
Based on PO 080 for solid waste disposal services worth P354.73 million, the firm must fulfill the following: provide a property of not less than one hectare in Cebu City to serve as motor pool; establish a sanitary landfill within the city with an environmental compliance certificate (ECC); build transfer stations in the north and south districts with an ECC; and put up a waste-to-energy facility with ECC.
Docast must also deploy 50 garbage trucks, equip its garbage collection and hauling equipment with global positioning system (GPS) with audio controller, and provide a bulldozer, payload and excavator.
The firm is also expected to provide a weighbridge with a calibration certification validated by the Department of Science and Technology.
The show cause order of Rama states that during an inspection at the transfer station in Inayawan, the company failed to follow the contract.
Only one transfer station, instead of two, has been established. The Inayawan transfer station fulfills the requirement for the south district, but is reportedly not owned by Docast. It has also failed to meet the standards.
There is no transfer station for the north district, only a temporary garbage dumping area.
Docast reportedly has only 13 garbage trucks, failing to meet the required 50.
It also reportedly failed to pay the P18 million it owes to the landfill owned by ARN Central Waste Management. It still has a balance of more than P1 million in 2020.
In a special session held last June 30, Department of Public Services (DPS) head John Jigo Dacua said the DPS has a budget of P404 million for garbage disposal for the year.
Of the P404 million, only P107 million remains. Dacua said he expected this to be used up by September.
He assured, however, that garbage collection would not be hampered.
In a previous report, Docast general contractor John Javier said it was dumping its garbage at a sanitary landfill in the northern town of Consolacion.
He previously asked for two weeks to transfer the garbage from the Inayawan transfer station in Cebu City, to Consolacion. (JJL)