The mayor of the municipality of Santo Domingo North, Daniel Carvajal Lois, announced that he had signed a 20-year agreement with Brazilian company Repsol Enganharia Ltda to privatize the Duquesa garbage dump. The company is represented in the DR by Compania de Limpieza y Rescate Urbano, SA. Engineer Eduardo Schlaeper R Dantes signed on behalf of that company.
The dump is the principal deposit site for garbage generated in the three municipalities of the Province of Santo Domingo and the National District. Hoy newspaper reports that the contract establishes the company will produce methane gas at the site and will compensate the Santo Domingo municipality with 20% of the revenues produced by sales of methane, which can be used to generate electricity.
As reported, the new private management of the dump undertakes to bury the garbage and make an investment of RD$80 million to resolve issues related to drainage, internal roads and condition equipment, among other works.
Furthermore, Carvajal explained that the company has experience in managing garbage dumps that are located near airports. He explained the importance of this given that one of the reasons for the delays in opening the international airport at El Higuero is that the open refuse pit attracts numerous birds to the area, endangering airport landings and takeoff operations.
To read more about landfill gas, see http://www.canren.gc.ca/tech_appl/