Project design for Kalunasan waste water treatment facility up for bidding

Labella wants P20-million facility constructed within the year as long term solution to the foul smell issue in Kalunasan

Inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC)  numbered about 2,500 as of end of 2019, which is a thousand more that its capacity of 1,500. (CDN File Photo)

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The long term solution to the foul smell in Barangay Kalunasan in Cebu City will be a permanent waste water treatment facility and Mayor Edgardo Labella wants the project hastened.

With this, the city’s Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) is preparing to bid out the project design for the waste water treatment facility.

Engineer Kenneth Carmelita Enriquez, the head of DEPW, told CDN Digital on Saturday, January 25, that the DEPW does not have the expertise in designing a waste water treatment facility, and a private company will have to do it.

She said a budget of P20 million for the waste water treatment facility has already been approved  as part of the P10.4 billion 2020 annual budget.

They await now the start of the bidding process so the project can begin.

“The fund is taken from the calamity fund because Kalunasan is under a state of calamity, so we can hasten the process due to the necessity. It takes two months for a normal design, but we make it part of the bidding process that the design is made within a month,” said Enriquez in a phone interview.

Enriquez said they have received an order from Mayor  Labella to hasten the project.

In a recent statement, Labella said he wanted the water treatment facility to be constructed within the year.

The mayor made this pronouncement in the wake of criticism from opposition councilors over the alleged lack of effort of the executive branch to solve the long-standing complaint of Kalunasan residents over the nauseous odor that has permeated their community due to the foul smell from the septic wastes of the Cebu City Jail (CCJ) and Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC).

Use of toilet facilities in both jails is high since they are filled beyond their capacity. At present, there are about 2,500 inmates inside the CPDRC, or about a thousand more than its 1,500 capacity.

The CCJ, on the other hand, is considered the most houses around 5,000 inmates, when its supposed to only house 1,100 prisoners both in the male and female dormitories.

Councilor Nestor Archival, chairman of the council’s Task Force Kalunasan, said the city has not been trying hard enough to solve the problem in Kalunasan, as the barangay remains to be under a state of calamity since August 2019.

Read: No trucks yet to remove septic wastes from Kalunasan jail facilities

Inductor trucks with suctions pumps for the long term hauling of the septic wastes from the two jail facilities were supposed to have been bought last year yet but the city’s Bid and Awards Committee said it could not proceed because of a problem with the bidding of the trucks.

Labella said the city government has been doing what it could to solve the smell, including the constant hauling of the wastes by the Department of Public Services (DPS) and hiring of third-party haulers to do for a daily hauling.

But the mayor said he understood the need to find a long term solution to the foul smell.

Since the water treatment facility has already been allotted a budget of P20 million, Labella on Saturday, January 25, 2020, that resources have been provided for the barangay’s problem.

However, if the need arises, he is ready to propose an additional supplemental budget from the Cebu City Council to ensure that the foul odor problem in the barangay is fully addressed the soonest.

“We will hasten this project. We are doing what we can already, but we will hasten this project. If we need more funds, we will ask for a supplemental budget,” said the mayor.

The mayor also stressed that he accepts “constructive” criticism from opposition councilors to help improve the city, as long as the criticisms were made with good intention.

He assured the opposition councilors that he is working on a solution to help the Kalunasan residents breathe fresh air again./elb