The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) is urging the city of Baguio to speed up its moves in updating its wastewater treatment by proceeding with its proposed sewerage treatment plant (STP).
In a letter to the city government that has since been transmitted to the Baguio City Council, the bureau has urged the city to move forward with its plant project to stem the pollution of the rivers passing through Baguio that receive its untreated wastewater discharge.
While Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong has not revealed other details of the EMB communication, the EMB does have policies under Republic Act 6969, or the Toxic Substances, Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990, that prescribe daily fines as penalty for polluting bodies of water.
“The EMB is trusting us to put up the (treatment) plant, because they are seeing that we are taking steps to move forward with it, but we have to go faster,” Magalong said.
The city has since secured a USD 43 million loan from the Asian Development Bank to fund its STP project, which is estimated to cost P3.7 billion, payable over the next two decades.
This project would cause the city to have to levy more fees on the populace, both to pay off the loan and fund the continuing operations of the plant.
However, Magalong clarified that the USD 43 million loan from ADB is not the full loan, and is, instead, the loanable amount.
“The 43 million is loanable. If we can bring the costs down, then we will not have to borrow 43 million. It is only the maximum we can borrow,” Magalong said.
