Maynilad sees 10% growth in revenues next year

MANILA, Philippines - West zone water utility concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. is projecting to post an eight percent to 10 percent growth in revenues in 2012 on the back of additional water connections.

Maynilad president and chief executive officer Victorico Vargas said revenues are projected to reach P6.6 billion next year compared to P6 billion this year.

Vargas said Maynilad is expected to complete up to one million service connections this year, with a potential 300,000 additional service connections next year.

The one-million service connections expected to be completed this year serving seven million customers, Vargas said, is equivalent to a 98 percent service connection rate.

Maynilad chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said the factor hindering faster water service connection is the local government bureaucracy and the continued use of deepwells.

As part of its continuing program to improve its service, Maynilad launched Thursday, the Maynilad Water Academy which is the first learning institution in the Philippines that is dedicated to the advancement of the water and wastewater industry.

Pangilinan said that “being a basic service provider, one of our core duties is to ensure the sustainability of our water business and operations. With the establishment of the Maynilad Water Academy, not only are we a step closer to achieving this, we also stay true to our group mission of nation building.”

Pangilinan added that “by developing the competencies of water professionals within Maynilad, across the country and in Asia, we can produce water resource managers who can provide safe, reliable water services to consumers, thereby safeguarding the welfare of our children and those who will come after them.”

Pangilinan plans to replicate the Maynilad Water Academy, which is also a First Pacific Center of Excellence, for all other companies under the FPIC-MPIC Group.