GENERAL SANTOS CITY (PNA) - The city government here has issued the order to finally commence the construction of the city's P362-million sanitary landfill project under a design-build-operate scheme.
Engineer Nael Cruspero, City Planning and Development Office chief, said the construction of the multi-million-peso project is expected to begin within the next few days on a 63.3-hectare property in Barangay Sinawal here.
He said a formal ground-breaking ceremony is scheduled on Friday at the project site, which is located about 15 kilometers away from the city's commercial center.
"The initial preparations are now almost complete and we expect the ground works to go full blast by next week," Cruspero said.
The city government earlier awarded the project to construction firm R-II Builders Inc. and the Philippine Ecology Systems Corporation Consortium, which were mainly tasked to "design, build and operate a solid waste management and disposal facility."
The project is funded by a soft loan from the World Bank's (WB's) support for strategic Local Development and Investment Project, which is coursed through the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).
Outgoing City Mayor Pedro Acharon Jr., who had pushed for the implementation of the project before the end of his final term on June 30, said the project includes a Materials Recovery Facility or MRF, Sanitary Landfill and Waste Disposal Management System, and other required support facilities for the proper disposal of the city's solid wastes.
He said the project will initially cover all 12 urban villages of the city.
"This will not only be for the welfare of our physical environment but will also benefit our business climate," Acharon said.
Cruspero said the project's ground works will begin with the concreting of the 4.5-kilometer road leading to the site.
Under the project, he said R-II Builders Inc. and Philippine Ecology Systems Corporation Consortium were initially tasked to prepare the detailed design of the sanitary solid waste management and disposal facility as well as its associated infrastructure and support facilities "in accordance with modern international standards."
They would assume the operation and maintenance of the facility up to December 31, 2011 and provide proper training to assigned city government personnel on all aspects of facility operation and maintenance.
They were also assigned to prepare a closure plan and lead the phased and progressive closure and rehabilitation of the existing municipal solid waste disposal site in Barangay Tambler
