Businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan is considering transferring his waste-to-energy or WTE ventures from Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. or MPTC, which currently manages the business, to the Manila Electric Co. or Meralco.
In a recent interview with reporters, Pangilinan disclosed that doing so would aid in faster facilitation and implementation of WTE projects, which he said are significant in addressing the country's sanitation issues.
"I'm thinking of moving from MPTC to Meralco, maybe it would move quicker. How many years have we been there? to be fair to MPTC, there are really many problems with LGU. But maybe, this setup would be better," Pangilinan told reporters.
Pangilinan said Meralco, through its power generation arm Meralco PowerGen Corp., can leverage its strategic partnerships with LGUs to advance several WTE projects.
"In many ways, WTE will address the waste or sanitation issues. If you want scale, you need the cooperation of several cities. We have several cities already, the biggest is in Quezon City," he said.
Among others, Metro Pacific Water or MPW, a wholly-owned water infrastructure investments subsidiary of MPTC, had proposed to take on the Iloilo City Integrated Solid Waste Management Facility.
The Office of Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas supposedly submitted the P2.3-billion proposal, already cleared by the Public-Private Partnership Committee, to the City Council in early November for assessment and approval.
The MPW proposal needs to secure the approval of the City Council first before it is elevated to the national government for another round of evaluation and approval.
The proposal of the MPW, according to Treñas, went through a Swiss challenge, but no other companies submitted their bids.
The proposed facility can process up to 470 tons of non-recyclable wastes as potential fuel daily which would help clear up thousands of hectares of sanitary landfill in the city.
It would treat, recover, and convert the city's waste into refuse-derived fuel and biogas, which are considered renewable energy sources by the Department of Energy.
The project is designed to produce around 2.4 megawatts of energy, which in turn will power up the MPW's planned desalination plant in the city.
MPW is in a joint venture with Metro Iloilo Water District to operate the Metro Pacific Iloilo Water, the water distribution utility that serves Iloilo City, and the municipalities of Oton, Sta. Barbara, Cabatuan, Maasin, San Miguel, Pavia and Leganes.