Legislators push for inclusion of incinerator in Marpi landfill plan • Project may not be sufficient to deal with mounting garbage problem

Legislators yesterday prodded the administration to include incinerator in the design of the Marpi landfill project, saying the 20-year capacity projected by its contractor is too short to deal with the mounting garbage problems on Saipan.

Members of the Task Force on Solid Waste, led by Timothy P. Villagomez, executive director of the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation, were besieged by questions from lawmakers in a briefing held at the Capitol Hill.

Some members of the Legislature expressed concern that the current scope of the project will not be sufficient to accommodate the increasing heaps of garbage that will be dumped at Marpi once the present site in Puerto Rico is closed.

The incinerator, which was part of the original design, should be reinstated in the whole project as this will prolong the life span of the landfill from 20 years to more than 125 years.

“If it can last to 100 years, how can the incinerator be not part of the design,” asked Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes.

Sen. Juan P. Tenorio likewise said this will greatly help reduce the amount of trash to be dumped at Marpi. “Twenty years might just be a 10-year period which means that we probably have to look closely on the incinerator plan,” he added.

But John Harder, solid waste director at the Department of Public Works, assured the Legislature that the incineration system is still part of the whole project, saying they will soon present a plan to lawmakers for their approval.

“There is no intent to do away with the incinerator,” he told legislators during the presentation of the newly-signed contract between the CNMI government and a private contractor Harding Lawson Associates. (see related story)

Rep. Heinz Hofschneider, in particular, questioned the projection by the contractor that the Marpi landfill will only last up to 20 years without the incinerator.

He said Saipan has seen its solid waste grow beyond what had been initially estimated and it is likely that the landfill project could last only less than what has been projected due to garbage from garment factories, construction firms as well as residential and commercial establishments.

Rep. Manuel A. Tenorio, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, also raised concern on the fate of the Puerto Rico dumpsite which could pose health risk to residents if it is not leveled and cleared of the possibly highly toxic materials.

“We seem to have no plan here (on the site’s closure,” he told the government body, admonishing them that they become “skeptical” once a deadline is set. The contractor has pledged to finish the first phase of the project by October 2000.

The representative also made a commitment to the task force to make funds available to include the closure in the project, while Reyes said they can prioritize the incinerator and include them in the capital improvement projects of the government.

Since some lawmakers were squeezing the task force on the incinerator and the closure of the present dumping ground, House Speaker Diego T. Benavente had to remind them that the contract only involved design of the Marpi landfill — a move that irked some members.