Maynilad to complete construction of P7.15 billion sewage treatment plants

MANILA, Philippines — West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. will put up P7.15 billion worth of sewage treatment plants (STPs) this year in line with its efforts to improve wastewater services.

In a statement, Maynilad said the three STPs would be built in Barangays Cupang and Tunasan in Muntinlupa and in Barangay Marulas in Valenzuela.

It added that the STPs can treat up to 126,000 cubic meters of wastewater per day, which will help reduce pollution load in Manila Bay.

Maynilad said the new STPs would provide sewerage service to almost 700,000 residents of the cities of Valenzuela and Muntinlupa.

The three new STPs add to Maynilad’s 22 wastewater facilities currently operational and serving West Zone customers.

“We are glad that these new STPs and conveyance systems are finally nearing completion,” Maynilad president and chief executive officer Ramoncito Fernandez said.

“While pandemic-related constraints continue to hinder our manpower deployment, we will strive to get these new facilities running and serving communities within the year,” he said.

Maynilad’s current wastewater facilities have a combined treatment capacity of around 664,000 cubic meters per day.

The company said it has already invested around P42 billion in wastewater projects.

Maynilad announced earlier that it is offering free septic tank cleaning services to its residential and semi-business customers this month, in select parts of Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Manila, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Pasay, Quezon City, Valenzuela and in Cavite province.

The company said it has adopted new and more stringent protocols in the conduct of desludging services to ensure the safety of its customers who will avail of the septic tank cleaning, such as requiring all of its desludging personnel and vacuum truck unit operators to wear personal protective equipment (PPE), practice physical distancing, and undertake extra disinfection procedures to protect against the spread of COVID-19.

“We have made our already-stringent desludging safety protocols even stricter, to assure our customers that we are taking all necessary steps to protect them from possible COVID-19 infection as we deliver our desludging services in their homes,” said Maynilad chief operating officer Randy Estrellado.

Septic tank cleaning service normally costs around P5,000 per truck, according to Maynilad.

Maynilad currently serves around 9.8 million people and is the largest private water concessionaire in the Philippines 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.