CEBU CITY, July 9 (PNA) — Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he is planning a waste-to-energy project at the city’s 15-hectare Inayawan sanitary landfill, which he ordered closed in 2011.
Rama said he wants to implement a similar project he saw during his visit to Incheon City in South Korea last weekend.
Rama was invited by Incheon City Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok to visit Hwasung Factory, Suwon site in Seoul to observe the technology there, particularly the waste-to-energy facility.
Rama said he wants to eventually develop the landfill into a real estate project, replicating the flat landfill in Korea, which sits beside a functional plaza.
He said the company was able to mine the 15-hectare landfill, just like the Inayawan landfill in 15 months.
“The difference is that theirs is a landfill while ours became a dumpsite. They (Koreans) will be doing the mining, not necessarily with us, but somebody will be coming in,” he said.
He said technology is available to hasten the conversion of the closed city landfill into a real estate project.
Rama said he has spoken with the inventor of the machine to express Cebu City’s intent to acquire one, perhaps at a lesser price, should the city be able to get an investor for the project.
In 2011, Rama ordered the closure of the sanitary landfill after it exceeded the maximum capacity and was already affecting public health and the environment. (PNA)