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Este informe no está disponible en español. CARIBBEAN BUSINESSSolid Waste Management Plan On The GoGDB awarded SWMA $67 million credit line; DNER amends plan to include Caguas WTE projectby LUCIENNE GIGANTEOctober 26, 2000 Nine new projects at a total investment of $21 million will start operation in the next few weeks, injecting new momentum in the government’s solid waste management plan. Meanwhile, the Government Development Bank awarded a $67 million line of credit this week to the Solid Waste Management Authority (SWMA) to finance the plan’s future projects, Roxanna Longoria, SWMA executive director told CARIBBEAN BUSINESS. Among the nine projects, which will employ 435 people in total, are four minitransfer stations in Maricao, Maunabo, Quebradillas, and San German. These minitransfer stations, which represent a total investment of $6.8 million, have capacity to receive 10 tons of garbage per day, 30 tons of garbage per day, 30 tons of garbage per day, and 80 tons of garbage per day, respectively. At an investment of $8.1 million, three other minitransfer stations to be operating by year’s end will be in Lares, Villalba, and Jayuya. Minitransfer stations are mid-point facilities that receive waste before it is transported to the designated landfill or waste-to-energy (WTE) plant. At an investment of $6 million, a material recovery and processing complex will soon begin operating in Guayanilla. The complex will feature two projects: a material recovery facility (MRF), which recovers and separates recyclable materials, and a glass processing plant. The MRF can process 50 tons of garbage every eight hours and the glass plant can process 20 tons of glass per hour. Projects to be funded by the new $67 million credit line include a MRF in Hormigueros and a $13 million material recovery and processing complex that will feature a MRF and a compost plant. Also lined up for the near future, noted Longoria, is the closing of the Barranquitas landfill, a study to designate the regional landfill to serve the Fajardo area, and the implementation of WTE plants. Approved in 1995, the government’s $620 million solid waste management plan–which seeks to create the infrastructure to effectively manage solid waste in Puerto Rico for the next 30 years–consists of 72 projects featuring a variety of technologies including two WTE plants, regional landfills, MRFs, transfer stations, and minitransfer stations. So far, the government has invested $72 million in the plan. SWMA is also working to implement two WTE plants in Puerto Rico. "We are in the process of amending the garbage infrastructure plan to include Caguas in Region one, the metro area [of the plan]," said Longoria, adding that the plan should be ready by the end of October. As reported in CARIBBEAN BUSINESS Aug. 10, Gov. Pedro Rossello signed Senate Joint Resolution 2188, which gives the green light to the development and construction of a WTE project in Caguas to serve the metro area. Meanwhile, according to Longoria, SWMA officials are in the States negotiating with Ogden Waste, which won the government bid in February to design, construct, and operate a WTE plant to serve the northwestern side of the island. Longoria said the contract is expected to be ready by early November for the duration of 20 years. This Caribbean Business article appears courtesy of Casiano Communications.
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