GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/07 October) — German firm Herhof GmbH recently forged an agreement with the local government unit of Glan, Sarangani for the construction of a $100-million waste-to-energy facility.
Glan Mayor Victor James Yap, Sr. said the project would be undertaken through a build-operate-transfer scheme.
“This agreement could serve as a catalyst that will catapult Glan as the next boom town in Mindanao. Imagine the jobs, revenue and ancillary enterprises that a $100-million investment can generate,” he said in a statement.
Signing for Herhof were William J. Lima, president of TIG Green Technology Mindanao, and Michael C. Jimenez, president of Zehira USA, LLC, and Yap for the LGU.
Under the memorandum of agreement, Herhof will construct and develop waste management disposal plant facilities using “a highly reliable and safe technology from Germany called Stabilat-R Method.”
The agreement also provides that Herhof will own, operate and maintain all mechanical biological treatment Stabilat-R plant facilities that the company will develop for municipal solid waste processing, waste-water treatment, sewage sludge, leachate treatment for landfills, methane/biogas extraction, hospital waste plant, thermal treatment of secondary fuels, gasification processes, anaerobic treatment and possible power-generation technologies or the so-called “EVA Power Plant.”
To ensure the successful operation of all its future facilities as well as help generate local employment, the company will conduct employee training programs on maintenance, safety and overall plant management and will only hire local residents as workers and plant operators.
The local government, on the other hand, will allow Herhof untrammeled use of its present landfill at Barangay Mudan for 25 years, renewable for another 25 years, as construction site of phase 1 of the project at no cost to the company.
If the local government can bring in 1,000 tons of garbage daily at the six-hectare municipal dumpsite within two years from the signing of the agreement, an additional area of at least nine hectares will be provided to the company for its power plant facility under the same terms and conditions.
When already in place, the project will also serve as a major revenue-earner in that other towns, cities or provinces can make use of the facilities for their own garbage disposal after paying the dumping charges or “tipping fees”, with the town and the company sharing the income equally.
With the minimum daily requirement of 1,000 tons of garbage “in the bag because of the additional load from outside sources,” the company will start phase II of the project–the power plant facility, which will use treated and recycled garbage as fuel, according to the statement.
The agreement also provides that when the company recoups its investment after 25 years of operation, it shall turn over its facilities to the local government under the BOT scheme. (Bong Sarmiento/MindaNews)