Laguna Water expands coverage

MANILA, Philippines — Laguna Water Corp., a unit of Ayala-led Manila Water Co. Inc., is investing P75 million for the expansion of its coverage in the province.

The municipality of Victoria has been added to its service coverage.

In a regulatory filing, Manila Water said the inclusion of Victoria in its service area would require the construction of a deep well and treatment facility for water supply, as well as the laying of over 14 kilometers of distribution lines.

Total capital investment is estimated at P75 million and completion of initial phases is targeted by April 2018.

The inclusion is pursuant to the amended concession agreement between Laguna Water and the local government to provide clean water supply and replicate the services previously done in the cities of Biñan, Cabuyao and Sta. Rosa.

Laguna Water is spending P5 billion over the next three years to further expand its coverage in the province.

Prior to Laguna Water’s takeover, the province only had 14 percent connected to the pipe system and the intermittent water supply, poor water quality, and systems loss was estimated at 48 percent.

Laguna Water, the biggest business of Manila Water outside Metro Manila, has over 130,000 connections from the 17,000 connections it had when it started the concession agreement in 2009.

The company ranks third among the operators outside the metro in terms of size, next to Davao and Cebu.

Last year, Laguna Water inaugurated the Laguna well field, a centralized water distribution facility with a capacity to supply 100 million liters of water per day, benefitting more than 30,000 consumers.

Laguna Water is a joint venture of the provincial government of Laguna and Manila Water Philippine Ventures (MWPV), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manila Water.

MWPV holds 70 percent of the company’s shares while the provincial government owns the remaining 30 percent.

Laguna Water’s operations began as early as 2004 but it was only in 2009 that its operations took off to become Laguna’s largest water service provider.