Senator Win Gatchalian is optimistic that Senate Bill 363, or the proposed framework for the Waste-to-Energy Act, will soon get the thumbs up from senators.
At the sidelines of the recetly-held Forum on Renewable Energy and Waste-to-Energy jointly hosted by the PPP Center and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Gatchalian said consultations with some stakeholders have already been conducted.
“Hopefully, within a few months, we can pass this bill,” the legislator said.
The lawmaker said the proposed measure will allow the incineration of wastes, among others, but pointed out that he will push for the explicit reiteration of a recent Supreme Court (SC) ruling saying incineration will only be allowed provided that the incinerator will not emit toxic fumes and hazardous gases.
“The most special feature of the bill is giving the national government explicit powers to enter into PPP contracts.”
The senator added that the most special feature of the bill is giving the national government “explicit powers to enter into PPP (public private partnership) contracts on waste-to-energy and mandate LGUs (local government units) to bring their waste to that facility.”
He noted the measure leans more towards waste management, but with a positive advantage on energy generation, particularly on renewable energy (RE).
“LGUs will be encouraged to form clusters or voluntary aggregation for their wastes.”
Gatchalian further said local government units (LGUs)will be encouraged to form clusters or voluntary aggregation for their wastes, which will be used as feedstocks for RE plants.
Private companies that will help fund the program will also be given Board of Investment (BOI) incentives, among others, he said.
“We’re also thinking of giving some feed-in tariff depending on the situation because we don’t want the feed-in tariff to be an additional burden to our consumers,” Gatchalian said.