Re-opening of Inayawan landfill highly possible – Margot

Cebu City mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña will re-open the Inayawan sanitary landfill once he assumes office at the end of the month.

In a press conference, acting mayor Margot Osmeña told reporters that re-opening of the Inayawan landfill is highly possible.

Osmeña said redevelopment of the landfill is ongoing and it should be ready by next month.

She said there is still a huge space in the landfill to accommodate more garbage.

The Inayawan sanitary landfill was ordered closed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 in 2012 but it was only shut down in January last year.

Last May, incoming Mayor Tomas Osmeña said they are looking at the possibility of reopening the landfill because the Cebu City government is spending too much for its garbage disposal.

Garbage trucks from the city travel to Consolacion to dump the city’s garbage. He cited the city government’s expenses of P25.4 million from October 1, 2013 to May 16, 2014 for the disposal of 36,399 tons of garbage, at P700 per ton.

He said the contract between the city government and Asian Energy Systems Corp., the landfill owner of the Consolacion landfill, did not undergo a public bidding and was questioned by the Commission on Audit (COA).

He said reopening of the Inayawan sanitary landfill will allow the city to save on expenses and is the best temporary measure to ease the problem while the city tries to look for the best long term solution to garbage disposal.