President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, together with MECO Chairman Amadeo Perez, Jr., Deputy Chief of Mission Leslie A. Bassett of the U.S. Embassy and former senator Mar Roxas II, listens to the project briefing during the Inauguration of the Urdaneta Engineered Sanitary Landfill (UESL) in Sitio Calegu, Barangay Catablan, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan Friday April 08, 2011. The first of its kind in Pangasinan and only the second in the entire Ilocos Region, the sanitary landfill covers a total area of six hectares with a total volume capacity sufficient to accommodate Urdaneta’s solid waste for the next 10-12 years. UESL was conceptualized in 2009 to address the garbage problem in the city owing to its rapidly growing population and the mushrooming of businesses and schools. Urdaneta is a major commerce and trade center in the North, hosting one of the biggest fruits and vegetable wholesale markets and one of the biggest livestock trading posts in the country. Likewise, it is fast emerging as an education center with the establishment of many tertiary educational institutions in the city. (Photo by: Jay Morales / Malacañang Photo Bureau) |
