CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) vowed to provide assistance to local government units and other entities, which will be affected by the closure of Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill in Capas, Tarlac.
The facility is facing closure after the BCDA and its subsidiary, Clark Development Corporation (CDC), decided not to extend the 25-year contract with the operator, Metro Clark Waste Management Corporation (MCWMC), when the partnership expires this coming October.
BCDA claimed that extending the MCWMC’s contract is against the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law of the government.
“Pursuant to the legal opinion of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC), BCDA’s statutory counsel, extending the contract between Clark Development Corporation (CDC) and MCWMC beyond October 2024 would be against the BOT Law, the framework used in bidding and awarding the contract for the project,” it said.
BCDA added that the waste management center “is no longer consistent with the government’s vision of transforming New Clark City into a premier investment and tourism destination.”
To ensure non-disruption of solid waste management services, BCDA vowed to assist local government units, government agencies, and locators in exploring waste disposal alternatives.
Citing report from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) Region III, BCDA said there are two existing facilities in Pampanga that may be utilized upon the end of MCWMC’s contract.
These facilities have a combined total capacity of 3,500 metric tons (MT) of domestic waste per day, and a potential to expand further to 6,000 MT, BCDA said.
The DENR report added that the BCDA has been invited to the opening of another materials recovery facility in Porac, Pampanga with a capacity of 5,000 MT per day.
“This brings the total combined capacity to 11,000 MT, which is more than enough to address the solid waste management requirements of Tarlac, Pampanga, and other provinces in and around the region. This should allay fears of a looming garbage and health crisis in the region,” the BCDA said.
Earlier, over 100 LGUs Central and Ilocos Region opposed the reported plan to shut down the Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill.
A group of hospital and toxic waste treaters also expressed fears that the patients of some 1,000 hospitals, including their workers, will be exposed to medical waste if the landfill closes.