Rama welcomes private firm’s decision to acquire ACI

CEBU CITY, Philippines—While he welcomed the move of the Prime Integrated Waste Solutions, Inc. (PIWSI) to fully acquire ARN Central Waste Management Inc. (ACI), Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is leaving it to the city council to further scrutinize this endeavor’s impact to the city.

Prime Infra, the infrastructure arm of the Razon Group, announced that its subsidiary, PIWSI, is investing in the modernization of ACI, which currently receives about 1,000 tons of Cebu Province’s, including Cebu City’s, 1,000 tons of solid waste daily.

The city is currently dumping its solid waste at the Binaliw landfill, owned and managed by the ACI.

In a press release, Prime Infra said that this investment will bring Cebu City’s waste management “at par with the world-class Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF) in other developed countries like Singapore.”

“ACI in Cebu City is the first waste management business that Prime Infra is developing and upgrading. PIWSI is also set to break ground on waste management facilities focusing on resource recovery in other strategic parts of the country within the next two years,” reads a portion of the Prime Infra’s statement.

Rama, in a press conference on Monday, December 5, 2022, said he is set to endorse the matter to the city council so the Prime Infra and the ARN can also have the opportunity to present this before the council for the sake of transparency and accountability.

“I will not be the spokesperson of ARN…You are talking about ‘the more the merrier,’ mao man na siya ang pilosopiya, but this matter will have to also be ventilated (to the council) kay sila may muhatag og authority nako ba,” he told reporters.

/bmjo

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