Maynilad sets 5-year capex at P100 billion

MANILA, Philippines — West zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. is spending P100 billion over the next five years to accelerate the improvement and expansion of its water and wastewater services.

“The P100 billion includes roughly P40 billion for waste water treatment plants and conveyance and sewerage pipes,” Maynilad president Ramoncito Fernandez told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Parañaque water reclamation facility yesterday.

“The rest of the budget will for be additional reservoirs to improve pressure, pipe replacement to reduce non-revenue water and other automation projects of Maynilad,” he said.

This year alone, Maynilad is spending P17 billion, higher than the P10 billion it invested last year.

A huge portion of Maynilad’s capex will be used to build new sewage treatment plants and lay sewer lines in various parts of Caloocan, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa and Cavite.

The new facilities, which will have a combined treatment capacity of 320 million liters per day, will remove harmful substances from wastewater generated by more than two million Maynilad customers.

The facilities are expected to expand the water company’s sewerage coverage to 47 percent.

Maynilad is also earmarking the budget for operations support, and service expansion programs, which include the rehabilitation of water network facilities, upgrade and construction of pumping stations and reservoirs for better supply and pressure management.

It will also cover the installation of new primary, secondary and tertiary pipelines for water service expansion, and wastewater management projects to increase sewerage coverage and maintain network reliability.

Maynilad is also investing in its customer service and information program, which covers the modernization of data management and information systems to improve service delivery.

Funding for Maynilad’s infrastructure investments will come from local and international bank loans, as well as from internally generated funds.

Maynilad just started operating its P1.7-billion sewage treatment plant in Parañaque City, which can treat up to 76,000 cubic meters of wastewater per day, and will help ease pollution loading in Manila Bay.

It can serve about 500,000 households in nine barangays in Parañaque City.

The facility, which is part of Maynilad’s program to expedite the provision of sewerage and sanitation services in Metro Manila, is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency through the Development Bank of the Philippines.

With the completion, Maynilad now operates 19 STPs, two sewage and septage treatment plants and one septage treatment plant with a combined treatment capacity of 662,000 cubic meters of wastewater per day.

Maynilad is the largest private water concessionaire in the country in terms of customer base. It serves the areas of Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas, Malabon, and certain portions of Manila, Quezon City, Makati and Cavite.

The company is owned and managed by Maynilad Water Holdings Co. Inc., a joint venture between Metro Pacific Investments Corp., DMCI Holdings Inc., and Marubeni Corp.