Iloilo City backs MPIC’s waste-to-energy project proposal
ILOILO CITY—The local government of Iloilo City is betting on a proposed waste-to-energy (WTE) facility to reduce expenses and manage impending sanitation issues caused by built-up trash in landfills as the city’s population continues to grow.
Speaking to reporters here last week, Mayor Jerry Treñas said a subsidiary of utilities and infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) has proposed to invest P2.3 billion in the WTE project, which would be the country’s first such facility once operational.
“No one has challenged MPIC yet … This proposal has already gone through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) committee,” Treñas said, adding that the proposal had been pending since 2019.
The delay was caused mainly by supplier consultations and feasibility studies that had to be conducted to assess the viability of putting up a WTE facility in the country.
Once operational, the facility will be used to power MPIC’s desalination plant in Iloilo that Treñas said was vital for his constituents’ water needs. The city government first announced plans to build a WTE facility in June through an agreement with MPIC subsidiary Metro Pacific Water.
Apart from powering a desalination facility, it would also be a solution to the city’s sanitation issue, according to Treñas.
Iloilo currently has one sanitary landfill that stores the city’s waste, but with the growing population, another landfill may be required to manage garbage buildup.
READ: Iloilo City mayor seriously considering waste-to-energy facility
Developing a new module for a sanitary landfill would cost the local government more than P600 million, Treñas explained. This is double the P300 million they had spent for the city’s lone landfill in 2008, he said.
With the WTE facility, the mayor pointed out that the city would not have to build another landfill.
“We don’t have to spend for the operations of another sanitary landfill. What we’re going to do is just bring all the garbage to the [WTE] site. Operation of a sanitary landfill is expensive because you need soil cover … We’ll save all of these expenses,” Treñas said.
