Councilor Temujin “Tek” Ocampo, chairperson of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, on Tuesday bared that an Australian firm has expressed its interest in pursuing a waste-to-energy (WTE) project in Davao City.
Ocampo said that the Australian company, which has partners in Europe, is getting in touch with the Davao City Investment Promotion Center (DCIPC).
He also said that its European firm partner has a track record in energy generation.
“Their technology would create energy from waste without incineration, walay burning. That is the new technology that they are going to apply. I think they are looking at a 50-megawatt power plant. But then again such a big power plant needs a lot of waste and Davao City alone cannot provide that waste. They are very aggressive. During the initial talks with the city government ang sabi nila ilaha na daw tung paningkamutan, wala man i-invest ang syudad bisan piso ani ang atoa lang i-provide is yuta,” Ocampo said during the Aprubado sa Konseho media briefing.
But then again, Ocampo said it won’t happen anytime soon because the city government of Davao still has an agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on the WTE project, which is currently being put on hold by the Department of Environmental of Natural Resources (DENR).
“We cannot bypass that agreement. Karon medyo napugngan sa kaulohan ang project so nangita ta ug pamaagi. The DENR just put it on hold for no reason. But we are all still very optimistic despite the fact that it was being put on hold by DENR and the national government because what we need right now is P3.5 billion to pursue the project. Kung ibutang nato na maglisod gyud ta there are players that are interested to come in,” Ocampo said.
Ocampo added that the good thing right now is the city is allowed to have a joint project through Public Private Partnership (PPP) with local or foreign companies who are interested in building infrastructures in the city.
Based on its design, the WTE plant has a capacity of 600 metric tons and the ability to generate up to 12 megawatts of energy.
Davao City, with a population of 1.6 million, generates a daily average of 600 to 650 tons of garbage, as per data from the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO). The existing challenge lies in the accumulation of waste at the city’s sanitary landfill in Barangay New Carmen, Tugbok District.
Since 2016, the landfill has surpassed its full capacity, accumulating 900,000 tons against the intended 700,000 to 800,000 tons.
