Asia Water confab to be held in Manila

MANILA, Philippines — It’s all systems go for the hosting of some 200 international delegates to the Asian Water Council  8th  Board of Council (BoC) Meeting, 3rd General Assembly and Elections from March 14 to15 in Manila.

Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) administrator Reynaldo V. Velasco, who is a member of the AWC BoC headed by K Water president Hak Soo Lee, said the event will be hosted by MWSS together with its concessionaires Manila Water, Maynilad,  and Luzon Clean Water Development Corp.

Maynilad fully supports AWC, cognizant of the fact that both share the same goal of providing safe water and sanitation facilities as enunciated in the UN SDGs. 

Maynilad president and CEO Ramoncito Fernandez and Manila Water president and CEO Ferdinand dela Cruz welcome the holding of the AWC activities in Manila as an opportunity for further collaboration between government and the private sector.

Luzon Clean Water Development Corp.’s Edgar Dona also lauded MWSS and MWSS-RO for hosting the international gathering. 

Asia Water Council seeks to address water usage, natural environment protection, and natural hazard mitigation. For its mission, AWC aims to “encourage mutual growth and sustainable development by involving the stakeholders in water through building a cooperative tie with the leading world water organizations.”

Asia Water Council boasts of over 100 organizations as members including international organizations and NGOs, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank. Members are classified by type: governments, multilateral development banks (MDBs) and export credit agencies (ECAs), public organizations, enterprises, academia and research organizations, and international organizations and civil society. MWSS concessionaires Manila Water, Maynilad and Luzon Clean Water Development Corporation are members of the AWC.

The BoC is composed of 25 Board Organizations. Among the government and private organizations represented in the BoC include Asian Institute of Technology; Daegu Metropolitan City; Food and Agriculture Organization; Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health; Global Water Partnership Central Asia and Caucasus; Indonesia Water Institute; Indonesian Association of Hydraulic Engineers; K-Water; Korea International Cooperation Agency; Korea Water Forum; China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research; @qua-Smart ICT for Water; Tokyo City University; Ministry of Energy and Mines of Laos; Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology of  Cambodia; Ministry Water Services Regulatory of Mongolia; and Tropical Marine Science Institute, NUS.

An organizing committee was formed by Velasco that include MWSS deputy administrators Leonor Cleofas and Virgilio Moro Lazo, Susanne Sta. Maria, Jeric Sevilla and Noel Abesamis of Manila Water, Maynilad’s Annette De Ocampo and Francisco Arellano, SMC’s Edgar Dona, German Avengoza and Archibald Macababad and MWSS Consultant Melandrew Velasco.

MWSS is hosting the AWC BoC meeting for the first time. AWC BoC meetings have been held in Bali, Indonesia; Singapore; Beijing, China; Bangkok, Thailand; and in the cities of Andong, Gyeongju, and Daejeon in South Korea.