Water deal: MCWD inks pact with PWRI

CEBU, Philippines - An additional 1,500-cubic meter of water is expected to augment the already very limited supply of the Metro Cebu Water District following the signing of a joint venture contract with the Pilipinas Water Resources Incorporated.

The officials of MCWD led by its general manager Armando Paredes and PWRI president and chief executive officer William Maceren entered into a contract yesterday for the latter to supply water to the water district. 

Based on the joint venture contract, PWRI is obligated to supply 1,500 cubic meters of water to MCWD which will be injected at the water district’s Banawa injection point located at Salvador Street.

PWRI is a consortium of businessman Antonio Tompar’s Mactan Rock Industries and pawnshop mogul Michel Lhuiller, which was incorporated in April 2007. It started as a level 3 water supplier for barangays in Cebu City and province that are not serviced by the local water districts.

Entering a contract to water suppliers is one of the measures taken by MCWD to address the increasing demand for water from their consumers.

Paredes admitted that they have not been able to meet the 250,000 cubic meter demand for water daily because they can only afford to supply 125,000 cubic meters every day.

He however explained this does not mean that the consumers that they were not able to serve does not have water supply because they have their own water sources such as private wells.

"We recognized that there is really lack of supply but we never stopped sourcing water," Paredes said.

MCWD has about 800,000 to 900,000 customers and the number is increasing due to population growth and migration. MCWD is facing a bigger challenge of coping up with the demands given the already depleted water source brought about by the El Niño.

To address the increasing demands, Paredes said that MCWD has an in-house water source development such as drilling of wells, wherein they are expecting to draw additional supply of between 25,000 to 30,000 cubic meters of water daily for the next three years.

They are also inviting private firms to enter a joint venture agreement with them.

Paredes said they have eleven injection points, seven areas in Cebu City, two in Mactan and two in Mandaue, wherein private firms can supply water to the so-called "thirsty areas".  (FREEMAN NEWS)