MANILA, Philippines — Maynilad Water Services Inc. is looking to deepen its partnership with Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-Water) on future water service projects in the country.
Maynilad CFO Ricardo delos Reyes said the company sees further opportunities to work with K-Water beyond their existing collaboration in New Clark City in Tarlac.
“We’re certainly happy to partner with K-Water on many other things, but all I can say is that there are many opportunities around the Philippines,” he said.
The Maynilad official noted that there is a need for better and sustainable water service infrastructure.
“Most of the population is still dependent on deep wells. Which, as you can see, is quite unsustainable from an environmental perspective and also because of the increasing volatility in the weather,” he said.
Delos Reyes added that water service coverage outside of Metro Manila remains significantly low, at about 50 percent.
“There is plenty of opportunity. It’s really up to us to prioritize what those opportunities will be and which ones we’ll pursue. But that’s still to be decided,” he said.
“I’m sure we’ll have some perspectives in the years ahead,” he added.
Maynilad and K-Water’s partnership includes the development of a P15-billion water and wastewater project in New Clark City for a 25-year term.
Delos Reyes noted that the proposal is expected to be awarded to the consortium within the year.
This comes after the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) said the P15-billion project received no competing proposals during the Swiss Challenge period.
“Our understanding is that it would be awarded sometime this year, but that is not up to us. If there’s no other bidder, then we expect a decision to be made fairly soon,” he added.
The BCDA granted Maynilad and K-Water an original proponent status for the project last September.
Under the proposal, K-Water will take a 40 percent stake in the joint venture, while Maynilad and BCDA will hold 30 percent each.