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The tune of P300 million for the Iloilo City's sanitary landfill sounds impossible.
Engr. Raul Gallo of the Office of Public Service of the city government said the plans of constructing a sanitary landfill is quite difficult to attain considering the amount needed for its realization.
Just recently, the city government declared budget deficit and still has to recover from this financial problem.
Engr. Gallo, who visited Philippine Science High School Western Visayas last October to deliver a lecture on solid waste management, the city government is hoping to achieve this dream through the help of foreign countries like Japan and Canada.
The sanitary landfill, basically the "burial ground" of garbage, will be situated at Calajunan, Mandurriao where the present dump site is located.
At present, only nine percent of the 23-hectare area is being utilized. The dump site, however, has already posed health and environmental hazards.
Engr. Gallo also lamented the garbage disposal practices of the city residents.
"We have garbage collection schedule, but they don't follow the schedule," he said relating how one time he personally loaded bags of garbage into his own car because the garbage was again placed on the sidewalk out of schedule.
"We are also targeting to minimize garbage by campaigning for the three Rs - recycling, reusing, and reducing," Engr. Gallo added.
As per records of the Iloilo City Development Office, Iloilo City generates an average of 228.45 tons of garbage everyday, the bulk of which comes from residential areas.
To manage collection of garbage, the city government hired the services of JS Layson Contractor augmenting the facilities and personnel of the city.
The city has six trucks, three compactor trucks, one hoist trolly truck, 16 garbage collectors, 110 streetsweepers and six drivers. JS Layson construction has 20 additional dump trucks and over a hundred workers.
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