CAGAYAN de Oro City may expect some news on the winning bidder for its garbage collection services on or before February 15, the City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (Clenro) said on Tuesday.
“Yes the contract with IPM-Waste CDO ended yesterday (Jan. 31) but we were surprised that they still continued to collect garbage. At any rate, we put into effect our contingency plans which means tapping the barangays to use their dump trucks for garbage collection along with the City Engineering Office, and the city contractors,” Clenro chief Engr. Armen Cuenca said yesterday.
Cuenca said the continued collection of IPM-Waste CDO despite the end of their contract was ‘voluntary’ and doesn’t obligate City Hall to pay them for their extended services.
“In a way, they are responding to the call of Mayor (Rolando) ‘Klarex’ Uy for volunteering to collect the city’s garbage,” he said.
Cuenca said the bidding for the city’s garbage collection services is ongoing and ‘the ball is now on the court’ of the Pre-Bidding and Awards Committee.
In the meantime, Cuenca said they will mobilize every available resource to handle the city’s garbage collection services.
“Mayor Klarex lent 30 of his dump trucks to help collect garbage,” he said.
When asked whether IPM-Waste CDO can join in the bidding, Cuenca said they can provided they meet Clenro’s requirements.
“The conditions are the same (across the board). All prospective bidders should have a minimum of 60 trucks and 90 percent of these units should be brand new. They should be able to collect at least 33,000 cubic meters of the garbage but they should also collect all garbage left on the streets,” Cuenca said.
Cuenca also said while internal problems hounded IPM-Waste CDO’s waste collection services last December, they still managed to do their job though less efficiently.
“In January they were able (to resume usual capacity) though we still had to provide the dump trucks for garbage collection,” he said.
For now, Cuenca said the barangays and volunteer contractors will cover the shortfall until after the bidding.
IPM-Waste CDO is a Manila-based company and Cuenca confirmed that he expressed his preference for a Cagayan de Oro City-based contractor.
“Our bidding is posted as a national publication so all bidders nationwide can participate. I said it would be better if the next contracted garbage hauler is city-based so we can easily contact them (should any problems arise),” Cuenca said.
Earlier, Mayor Uy said any prospective bidder for the city’s garbage collection services should meet Clenro’s requirements.
Mayor Uy also ruled out the possibility of City Hall taking over the city’s garbage collection saying that the costs of operating and maintaining the trucks along with the personnel to be hired would be prohibitive. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)
