Manila Water income up 5% to P650M in 1st half

Record efficiency gains anchored on an aggressive capital investment program pushed up Manila Water Co.’s sales and customer base in the first half of 2004, resulting in a reported net income of P650 million or five percent higher than the previous year’s level.

Year-to-date revenues reached P2 billion, a 12-percent increase from the same period last year.

Manila Water, the Ayala-led contractor for the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) utility franchise, has pumped in a total of P1.2 billion on water and wastewater projects in the first half and expects this amount to reach up to P3 billion by year end, much of it geared towards the rehabilitation of the water network to improve service coverage and reduce system losses.

The water company registered its highest-ever billed volume at 803 million liters per day in June while expanding coverage to over 537 thousand households all over its service area, the east zone of Metro Manila.

Particularly significant were Manila Water’s improvement in non-revenue water (NRW), which improved by four percentage points from the same period last year and by 16 percentage points since the company first took over the concession in 1997. This NRW level in June is also the lowest over the past seven years, marking a major milestone in Manila Water’s efforts to reduce system losses. This improvement was attributed to effective supply management combined with massive pipe and meter replacement projects. Todate, the company recovers up to 256 million liters per day, out of the water volume that was initially lost due to network inefficiencies.

Meanwhile, aggressive wastewater disposal commitments are underway, including a major septic tank desludging service, benefiting more than 9,000 customers during the first half of 2004. Through a funding from the World Bank, Manila Water is constructing 27 independent sewer treatment plants in 2004, with 12 already completed and operational. Its flagship program, Tubig Para Sa Barangay (TPSB), has so far provided clean and affordable water connections to over 600,000 individuals in informal settler communities.