RP seeks WB loan for pipeline rehab

The World Bank is sending a mission to the Philippines early next year to study the feasibility of the $125-million loan for the rehabilitation of the country’s most problematic water pipelines.

The bulk of the loan, which will go through the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), is expected to go to the Maynilad Water Services in 2006.

Maynilad president Fiorello Estuar said the loan was in the pipeline for a feasibility study in preparation for the final loan agreement between the government and the WB.

Estuar said the early stages of negotiations have been completed and the feasibility study would validate the findings already submitted by Maynilad and the MWSS.

Over the medium term, Estuar said the proceeds of the loan would be used to rehabilitate Maynilad’s pipelines and ultimately reduce the company’s non-revenue water (NRW).

Estuar said Maynilad has already piloted a stop-gap program that would reduce Maynilad’s losses while the rehabilitation plan was still under deliberations.

"Our NRW in Manila, Pasay and Makati have always been the most problematic," Estuar said. "In these areas, we estimate that we are losing 75 to 90 percent of the water we pump through our pipelines."

Estuar said Maynilad tested its Water Supply Improvement Project in Tondo, the district with the highest NRW of 90 percent.

"These lines are old and we do not have the instrumentation to detect where the leaks are or where the illegal connections are because they are underground," he said.

According to Estuar, Maynilad decided to shut down the pipelines and instead laid out another network above-ground which would be easier to monitor for illegal connections.

"This is a small area of about 3000 households and we used to pump 30 million liters a day but we were only getting paid for about three million liters," Estuar said.

After shutting down the underground lines and instead using the lines above ground, Estuar said Maynilad was able to reduce its NRW for that district from 90 percent to only 10 percent.