PPP Center sets pre-bid conference for Baggao Water LGU project

MANILA, Philippines — The pre-qualification conference for the Baggao Water LGU public-private partnership (PPP) project has been set for Jan. 23, the PPP Center said.

The P84-million water project involves the provision of potable piped water supply service to households in the municipality. It will be inclusive of the development of a water supply source, as well as a transmission and distribution mechanism.

It will be structured as a design-build-operate-and-transfer project and will undergo a competitive two-state public bidding process under the BOT Law.

The winning bidder would finance, design and construct the water supply facilities, including bulk water source, storage facilities, and transmission and distribution lines. The private firm would also operate and maintain the facilities over a 25-year concession period.

The new water system is expected to serve 24 barangays initially. This comprises 21,160 persons out of  the total municipal population of 78,200.

The project’s invitation to prequalify and bid was published in newspapers on Dec. 22 and 28, 2017 and Jan. 4, 2018.

Since 2015, the PPP Center has been providing the local government of Baggao, a first class municipality in Cagayan, with technical assistance in preparation for the project tender.

It has also been assisted by the Water and Sanitation Program of the World Bank.

The municipality currently does not have a Level III water service. As such, there is no system for individual metered water service connections. Most of its residents thus only have water access through shallow wells which are prone to contamination.

Multilateral development institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank have identified water and wastewater as business subsectors ripe for PPP.