LIEUTENANT Gov. Arnold I. Palacios on Monday said the Marpi landfill is not ready yet for a “universal garbage collection” initiative.
During a meeting of the Highway Task Force, which Palacios chairs, solid waste efforts were discussed.
The task force members include Department of Public Works highway engineer Isagani Salazar and Elizabeth Salas Balajadia, P.E., the CNMI’s Capital Improvement Project administrator with the executive branch.
Based on the task force’s report regarding the rehabilitation of the Marpi landfill’s Cell 2, construction and procurement of materials are in progress.
A notice to proceed was issued on Nov. 8, 2021 with the completion date of July 5, 2022.
Work on this portion is still in progress, with DPW still needing to upgrade the separation berm — the level space, shelf, or barrier, usually made of compacted soil, separating areas in a vertical way — to hold the volume of water if it rises during the rainy season.
For the design of Cell 3, 100% of the engineering design has been submitted.
Comments from DPW and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were forwarded to the design engineer on March 11, 2022.
The design engineer, Henry K. Pangelinan and Associates Inc., is currently working on the final plan.
Palacios said DPW needs to get the landfill “up and running” in order to be prepared for universal garbage collection.
“We may have all of this collection initiative, but the disposal part is not ready… That’s operating under EPA’s permit, so there are certain operational conditions that we have to meet before we can continue to do that, and that is to complete lining Cell 3, and we’re still on Cell 2,” Palacios said.
“We need to get ahead of that initiative and get things done at the landfill to receive the solid waste that hopefully is going to get done through the universal garbage collection.”
The UGC task force was established by Gov. Ralph DLG Torres through Executive Order 2021-21.
Chaired by KKMP radio personality Gary Sword, the task force consisted of government and private sector entities, such as DPW, the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality, the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation, the Office of Planning and Development, and the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios presides over a meeting of the Highway Task Force in his office conference room on Capital Hill.
