MCWD in talks with Ayala, Compostela for water proj.

To address the fast-increasing demand for water in Metro Cebu, the Metropolitan Cebu Water District has opened renegotiations with Ayala Corporation and local government of Compostela for projects that would help boost water supply here.

MCWD board chairman Juan Saul Montecillo said that they would meet with the officials of the Ayala Corp. and Central Equity Ventures today for the preliminary negotiations on the Carmen Bulk water project, which is expected to augment MCWD's water supply by 50,000 cubic meters a day.

He admitted that with the shortage of water in Cebu they are open to proposals from the private sector to build new water sources.

If negotiations fail, he said "we would shift to other moves even if not taken by Ayala."

Montecillo said that since the 50,000 cubic meters of water a day would not be enough at present to make MCWD's supply adequate to meet the high demand for water, they are open to other proposals. Cebu's demand for water grows at least seven percent a year.

MCWD general manager Armando Paredes said that for now MCWD is supplying 110,000 cubic meters of water to the entire Metro Cebu which has a demand 250,000 cubic meters a day. The water utility is only able to supply barely enough of the demands of the estimated 1.2 million population of Metro Cebu.

He said that the fast increasing population and economic development in Cebu are among the major factors that contribute to the increasing demand for water.

"We admit the situation water in Cebu is not good but we are not hopeless until we reach the comfortable level of supply, especially in the elevated areas," Paredes said.

Montecillo also said that they are also starting to renegotiate with the local officials of Compostela to let the water utility rehabilitate and operate their wells there.

He said that the proposal to reopen the 14 wells is a two-way process because they also offered to the Compostela government that they can rehabilitate and operate the wells.

Once rehabilitated and operational, he said that the 14 wells can provide additional 15,000 to 20,000 cubic meters of water a day.

But the cost for rehabilitation alone is P70 million, including the replacement of old pumps. MCWD has invested P100 million through a loan from the Local Water Utilities Administration to construct the wells in the town in 1992 but they remain idle because the municipal government blocked their operation for fear it might affect their water supply.

But with the recent developments, Montecillo said that they are hopeful that the wells will soon be rehabilitated and operational for the MCWD to get additional supply of water and recover the cost for the construction of the wells. - Wenna A. Berondo