MANILA, Philippines — The government and the private sector need to invest at least P1.1 trillion for every Filipino to gain access to water and sanitation by 2030.
Based on the Philippine Water Supply and Sanitation Master Plan, about P1.06 trillion needs to be spent for physical infrastructure and another P1.13 billion invested in non-physical projects to achieve universal access by 2030.
Broken down, the government and private firms need to spend P278.07 billion for water supply and P455.59 billion for sanitation between 2020 and 2023.
Further, at least P233.01 billion for water supply and P101.52 billion for sanitation should be set aside from 2024 to 2030 to complete the remainder of the physical infrastructure. For the non-physical projects, P660 million is required for the first phase and P470 million is needed for the latter half.
According to the master plan, physical investments comprise bulk of the capital requirement as they will fund the infrastructure to hit the water and sanitation access targets. On the other hand, non-physical investments will bankroll efforts to achieve the eight key reform agenda provided under the roadmap.
The master plan seeks to build water supply and sanitation institutions; strengthen the regulatory environment; come up with effective services; and balance supply and demand.
It also eyes to build on climate resiliency; enable access to funding and financing; manage data and information; and drive research and development.
For the capital requirement until 2023, nearly 43 percent or P118.86 billion of the investments in water supply will be secured from commercial sources, followed by development loans (P104 billion), grant allocation (P37.59 billion) and private funds (P17.63 billion).
During the same period, P205.87 billion in grant will be sought to supply more than 45 percent of the financing for the sanitation projects. Another P196.67 billion will be acquired from state-run banks, while P46.45 billion will be sourced from local governments, P4.65 billion from water safety plan equities and P1.95 billion from users.
However, Socioeconomic Planning assistant secretary Roderick Planta said reforms should be realized to generate the investments required in reaching universal access to water supply and sanitation. Without changes, regulations will hinder private firms from mobilizing their capital in improving the sector.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua also stressed the urgency of setting up the Department of Water Resources to unify under a single office all of the regulatory agencies tasked to police the sector.
The master plan also listed the creation of a Water Sector Apex Body, made up of stakeholders, that will come up with policy proposals toward reaching the goal of universal access.