State-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) said it is stepping in to help local government units and businesses find new waste disposal solutions as the 25-year contract between Clark Development Corp. (CDC) and Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. (MCWMC) for the Kalangitan sanitary landfill nears its October 2024 expiration.
Extending the MCWMC contract beyond the expiration date is not legally possible, according to the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC).
The OGCC said the extension is not allowed under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law which governs the bidding and awarding of the project.
The BCDA said a sanitary landfill is also no longer aligned with the government’s vision for New Clark City as a premier destination for investment and tourism.
A recent report by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) Region III identified two existing facilities in Pampanga with a combined daily capacity of 3,500 metric tons (MT) of domestic waste.
Combined, the facilities have the potential to expand further to 6,000 MT, and partially serve the waste disposal needs of the province of Pampanga, it said.
The BCDA was invited to the opening of another materials recovery facility in Porac, Pampanga with a capacity of 5,000 MT per day. This brings the total combined capacity to 11,000 MT, exceeding the waste management needs of Tarlac, Pampanga and surrounding areas.
The BCDA said this should alleviate concerns about a potential garbage crisis in the region.
A group of hospital and toxic waste treaters earlier warned that a garbage crisis looms in Luzon with medical wastes from hundreds of hospitals left untreated once the government decided to shut down the lone engineered sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac.
Danny Abadilla, president of Clark Sanitation Services, said the planned closure of the landfill site in October would render thousands of hospitals “stuck and helpless” with un-collected hospital waste mounting each day.
Abadilla said the Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill is the “only sanitary landfill accredited by DENR to accept medical wastes.”