Inayawan landfill remains closed

Cebu City gov’t to comply with EMB requirements before reopening site

Cebu City Acting Mayor Margarita Osmeña said yesterday that the Inayawan sanitary landfill would remain closed until the city government could comply with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Enviromental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) requirements to reopen it.

Osmeña told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview that she has no tentative date for the city government to reopen the landfill, but what it can do now is to make sure that the paperwork for the requirements is done and ready for the incoming administration of Cebu City Mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña to act upon.

She said that they will try to do this within the month.

Despite earlier announcements of the city government to reopen the landfill this week, Acting Mayor Osmeña, outgoing City Councilor Nida Cabrera decided to comply with the EMB requirements before reopening the landfill after last Monday’s meeting with EMB-7 head William Cuñado.

The requirements needed for the reopening of the landfill include the site development plan, the creation of a Multipartite Monitoring Team (MMT) and the Environmental Guaranteed Fund (EGF).

Cabrera said that they have yet to submit the site development plan this Monday as it would help them get a clear detail on the utilization of the landfill.

Cabrera also said that the MMT, which will monitor the city’s implementations on the opening of the landfill, must be created by Acting Mayor Osmeña.

The MMT will be composed of five to six persons.

At the moment, Cabrera and her team are doing the program of works for the rehabilitation of the leachate pond, and it also has no specific amount as to how much it would cost.

She also said that they also do not have yet an Environmental Guaranteed Fund (EGF), which will be used for the landfill’s needs, especially those people who will be affected by its reopening.

They are required to allocate P 5,000,000 for the EGF.