Waste to Energy project, Another First for Iloilo City

Iloilo City moved closer to establishing yet another “first” after the City Council approved last Wednesday two important resolutions.

One resolution authorizes the City Mayor to enter and sign a Joint Venture Agreement with a Prospective Proponent with the Best Responsive Proposal for the Iloilo City Integrated Solid Waste Management Facility.

The other resolution approves the tender documents for the Joint Venture Agreement for the Iloilo City Integrated Solid Waste Management Facility and issuance of the same documents to interested bidders in the said project.

Submitted by the Council Committee on Public Service, Environmental Protection and Ecology, headed by Councilor Ely A. Estante Jr, the project stemmed from an Unsolicited Proposal submitted by Metro Pacific Water to Enter into a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) for the Iloilo City Integrated Solid Waste Management Facility and for which Terms of Reference (TOR) Volume 1 and 2 and Project Agreement have been drafted.

Under the JVA, the proponent and the city government will establish a Solid Waste Management Facility which will convert waste from the Calajunan dumpsite into electric energy.

The technology is new and the facility, once completed in matter of two to three years after the JVA is launched, is vaunted to be the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.

Estante said the facility is capable of converting waste into 3.5 megawatts, enough to pwovide power to around 5,000 households. The facility’s output will be sold to the grid via Global Power, a sister company of the proponent.

The twin resolution initiates the “Swiss Challenge” mechanism whereby the city – through publication of the proposed JVA and its Terms of reference in a newspaper of national circulation — solicits proposals from other proponents.

If another proponent can offer better terms, the original proponent can then be expected to match or even better the new one. If no other proponent comes forward, the proposal is deemed approved and can proceed immediately.

The project is also in response to the health, environment, and socio-economic problems now obtaining at the city’s 3.5 hectare sanitary landfill area in Calajunan. The landfill is expected to be filled to capacity by 2026.

The Calajunan landfill will be closed and can be converted to other uses once the Solid Waste Management Facility becomes operational.