With the closure of the Payatas controlled landfill in 2019, the 38-member Quezon City Council has given Mayor Herbert Bautista the green light to put up a multimillion-peso waste-to-energy facility in Barangay Payatas under a public-private partnership.
The city council passed a resolution to establish an integrated facility to hasten the closure of the Payatas dump, handle 2,000 to 3,000 tons of wastes a day, and generate 30 to 35 megawatts of power.
Despite the project being originally proposed by tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan of the Metro Pacific Investments Corp., the city government will still invite other infrastructure firms through an open competitive bidding procedures, City Administrator Aldrin Cuña said.
“We will publicize the bid and invite other parties. There will be a Swiss challenge,” Cuña told the Standard.
Under the resolution, the city government shall ensure the project configuration of the proposed waste-to-energy facility complies with existing laws and regulations, “including but not limited to the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, Clean Air Act, Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Act, Renewable Energy Act of 2008, and guidelines governing the establishment and operation of waste-to-energy technologies for solid wastes.”
Bautista said he has already convened the city’s public-private partnership selection committee to oversee the pre-selection and selection of private sector proponents for the project.
If plans do not miscarry, the city government “is projecting additional revenue if the power generated from the soon-to-be-developed waste-to-energy facility is sold to electric companies” such as the Manila Electric Co., the mayor said.
Apart from powering Barangay Payatas, savings derived from the sale of the electricity would fund the construction of more school buildings, health centers, hospitals and multipurpose halls, Bautista said.
The mayor also expects a reduction in the power consumption of city government-owned facilities and properties when the project connects to the power grid.
The city government is spending P1 billion a year for solid waste management, including hauling services, post-closure care and maintenance of the Payatas dump, special operations and toxic or hazardous waste collection, treatment and disposal.
In June 2013, Pangilinan offered to develop a 15-hectare portion of Payatas and build a waste-to-energy facility in three years’ time. It would also house a shopping mall and other commercial establishments. He brought up the proposal again recently.
Jose Ma. Lim, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. president, said the project would utilize trash for conversion to biofuel, and would generate 30 to 40 megawatts of power.
