BAGUIO CITY — Goldrich Construction finally got the contract for the hauling of the city’s waste to Tarlac up to December 31, a city official confirmed before the close of office hours Tuesday.

City Environment Management Officer Romeo Concio told the press the contract has been awarded on December 5 to Goldrich, one of three qualified bidders for the city’s multi-million waste haul.

“One trip now costs the city only P13,590, instead of the P20,000 that it used to pay another hauler for a 20-tonner truck,” Concio told reporters. He said, however, the city might not realize savings due to an expected increase in the volume of garbage during the holidays.

The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) earlier declared a failure of bid after the three bidders, including Goldrich failed to comply with the terms of reference. The other two bidders are Flores Construction and Metro Clark Waste Management Corporation.

Flores posted the lowest bid but it failed because it lacks the needed number of trucks, paving the way to Goldrich.

The city averages 700 trips monthly since the garbage problem emerged earlier in June prompting the city council to allocate some over P100 million to arrest the garbage problem, including the identification and eventual purchase of land for an engineered sanitary landfill (ESL).

In the meantime, the Irisan dump site is getting a face lift leading to its eventual closure. Concio said the composting plant in the Irisan complex might be considered as a site of a possible waste-to-energy project.

Another company earlier submitted a feasibility study for the entrapment of methane from biodegradable materials, which consist 40% or 124 tons, of the city’s daily waste. The council authorized Concio to negotiate with Philippine Bio-science Company for a reported donation of bio-reactors from a US donor agency.

The city generates some 300 metric tons of waste daily.

Meanwhile, after December 31, the city might resort to retrofitting the decomposing wastes into the Irisan controlled dump site, until it comes up with a more permanent ESL.

“The obligatory rehabilitation work at Irisan makes room for the controlled dump site to contain more waste,” he said. # Lyn V. Ramo