Proposed waste-to-energy facility to undergo procurement challenge

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

The Iloilo City government on Tuesday inked another deal that will bolster solid waste management.

But Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas said the deal with Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) will still undergo competitive challenge from other interested firms.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas signed the deal with MPIC, represented by Metro Pacific Water (MPW) President and Chief Executive Officer Rogelio Singson relative to the Manuel Pangilinan-led firm’s proposed Integrated Solid Waste Management Facility (ISWMF).

The MPW is a subsidiary of MPIC which co-owns Metro Pacific Iloilo Water (MPIW), one of the major water distribution utilities in the Metro Iloilo area, under a joint venture with Metro Iloilo Water District.

MPIC proposed the ISWMF project in a letter to Treñas in August 2022.

Its key feature is a waste-to-energy facility expected to treat, recover, and convert the city’s waste into renewable energy sources such as Refuse-Derived Fuel and Biogas, and is also seen to reduce up to 129,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalents.

This project, which will be established at the city’s sanitary landfill in Calajunan, Mandurriao, aims to address the city’s growing solid waste problem and an alternative to a second landfill site.

“The waste-to-energy facility, powered by advanced technologies and innovative waste management practices, will revolutionize the handling of Iloilo City’s waste stream. Through this cutting-edge infrastructure, the abundance of waste materials will be harnessed to generate renewable energy, reducing the city’s carbon footprint and contributing to the fight against climate change. Simultaneously, the facility will foster a circular economy by extracting valuable resources from the waste, thus minimizing environmental degradation and promoting sustainable resource management,” MPIC said in the letter.

But this project might take time before it materializes after Treñas said that it is still subject to Swiss challenge under City Regulation Ordinance No. 2019-524 (Integrated Public-Private Partnership Code of Iloilo City).

The ordinance defines a ‘Swiss challenge’ or competitive challenge as an alternative selection process wherein third parties or challengers shall be invited to submit comparative proposals to an unsolicited proposal.

Other companies with similar proposals may match MPIC’s offer with similar or different proposals for facility features and values.

If this pushes through, the ISWMF would be the second major public-private partnership project package successfully undertaken by the city government.

The first is the rehabilitation of the Iloilo Central and Iloilo Terminal public markets in partnership with SM Prime Holdings, which was sealed last year.