BASEY, Samar—The United Nations Development Programme and the Korea International Cooperation Agency recently turned over the P14-million Basey Ecological Park, a state-of-the art sanitary landfill and recycling facility in one, to the local government here.
The 15,000-square meter facility also includes a wastewater treatment plant and will help Basey comply with Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, Mayor Igmedio “Jonjie” Ponferrada said.
UNDP Country Director Titon Mitra said the Basey sanitary landfill is designed and constructed with environmental protection systems, and the wastewater treatment plant is designed to treat the leachate generated by the landfill without the use of chemicals or mechanical equipment.
Mitra expressed his appreciation to the local officials of Basey for their cooperation and positive response to their suggestions and proposals for the project.
The four-hectare land area where the ecological park sits is Basey’s counterpart to the UNDP-KOICA funding for the project, Ponferrada said.
The town also reopened the Basey Manpower Training Center, which like most public facilities in Eastern Visayas was heavily damaged by Typhoon “Yolanda” three years ago. The UNDP and KOICA also provided P15 million for its rehabilitation.
Tesda Regional Director-8 Cleta Omega said the BMTC was the only LGU-managed vocational and skills training center in Samar accredited by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
The new training center is a two-storey, typhoon-resilient structure with a roof deck, and covers a total floor area of 1,296 sq m, with each floor having an average area of 432 sq m.
The center houses engine equipment for the skilled trainees and a range of small tools necessary for skills learning, and will offer courses that follow the modules of Tesda in Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW, NC II), Electrical Installation and Maintenance (EIM, NC II), Plumbing NC II and Carpentry NC II.
The BMTC will cater to the manpower training needs of the municipality and in the region for skills indispensalbe in a recovering economy, such as welders, electricians, carpenters and plumbers.
The single-storey, semi-concrete structure was established in 2008 through a municipal ordinance. Since then, the center has trained around 600 out of school youths and high school graduates, Ponferrada said. With PIA
