NEWSFLASH

NAVOTAS BUILDS OWN TRASH FACILITY

Navotas, Metro Manila, Nov. 17, 2001 - (STAR) By Jerry Botial 1- As the rest of Metro Manila gropes for a place to dump their garbage, Navotas has silently worked to secure a dumpsite of its own.

Navotas Mayor Tobias Tiangco announced yesterday that a 10-hectare property in Barangay Tanza is being developed into a "controlled disposal facility" as mandated by Republic Act 9003 (also known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000) and may be operational before the end of December this year.

"With the present garbage crisis staring us in the face, we cannot shirk our moral obligation to do something concrete and fast about it. Navotas is proud to do its bit," Tiangco said.

"It is necessary for us to have the facility ready by mid-December since the present transfer station can only take the garbage up to that time after which we will be having problems collecting garbage. We cannot allow this as this will pose a health hazard and aggravate the floodings in our town," he said.

Tanza is four kilometers from the nearest residential area making it an ideal site for such a facility, said the mayor. The site, being surrounded by fishponds and saltbeds, is not accessible by land so garbage will have to be transported from the marine loading facility at Vitas station. The Tanza property has been inspected and approved by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Tiangco said.

Tiangco explained that the garbage collected in Navotas will be dumped at the Vitas transfer station in Manila where they will be loaded into barges and deposited in the Tanza facility.

Tiangco said he has made representations with Manila Mayor Lito Atienza on the procedure. He said they have mutually agreed on the proposed arrangement where for using the Vitas station, one-and-a-half kilometers away from Tanza, as temporary dumpsite, Navotas, in turn, gives Manila the privilege of dumping its waste at the Navotas facility.

"Initially, Navotas dumps its collected garbage at the Vitas station and from there, Manila dumps its solid waste into the Tanza facility by barges (operated by the as yet unidentified franchisee)," Tiangco said.

Tiangco said that the operator only needs a mayor’s permit and a permit to operate (after evaluation) from the DENR.

With the facility in place, Tiangco said Navotas will have no more need for its present waste transfer station at the corner of C-4 and R-10 Roads. Plans are underway to convert the site into a commercial area.

"The site, now an eyesore, is prime location which has excellent potentials," Tiangco said.

The mayor said that the proposed waste disposal project will generate savings of about P52-million for Navotas.

"Currently, we are spending some P30-million for garbage disposal. Operating on a P230-million budget, I cannot justify the P30-million for garbage when the allocation for needed infrastructure like roads is only P18-million," Tiangco said.

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