City gets new weighing bridge

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City government finally has a reliable way to check the volume of garbage it pays to the private hauler with the acquisition of a brand new weighing bridge.

The P2.5 million weighing equipment, installed at the controversial Inayawan Sanitary Landfill, was inaugurated yesterday. Since 2016, the city government did not have its own weighing scale and was merely relying on the volume of garbage declared by the private hauler in its payment.

The city government is paying the service provider P1,248 for every ton of garbage they disposed of. 

The inauguration of the new weighing bridge yesterday was led by Councilors Eugenio Gabuya Jr. and Margarita "Margot" Osmeña. Also present were Department of Public Services head Roberto Cabarrubias and Randy Navarro, executive assistant to the mayor for special projects.

Gabuya, chairman of the City Council committee on public services, was thankful that the city finally has a weighing bridge that would check the volume of garbage disposed of by the private hauler.

Gabuya said he used to assign personnel at the transfer station and in the dumping facilities to monitor the volume of garbage.

"Importante gyud kaayo kay ang siyudad nagbayad og dako nga kwarta sa paglabay sa basura. Mahibaw-an gyud nato nga sakto atong mabayran, dili na mata-mata," Gabuya said.

Record shows that since the Inayawan landfill was shut down on December 15, 2016, the city government spent around P309 million for hauling operation expenses in 2017.For this year, the city has set aside P300 million for garbage disposal.

The new weighing bridge has a capacity of 60 tons. It is bigger than the old weighing bridge which has been unserviceable since 2016.

Gabuya said the weighing bridge is serviceable 24 hours a day. Five personnel were assigned to monitor it.

"Naa gyu'y copy ang hauler, mataligyud. Dapat mo-jive ang data nato ngari didto sa mga private-owned landfill," he said. — FPL (FREEMAN)