Manila Water spends record P13.7 billion in 2021

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Water Co. Inc. said its capital expenditures in 2021 hit a record  P13.7 billion from P10.7 billion a year ago.

In a statement, Manila Water said major components of the investment were the construction of new facilities and networks to expand service coverage, rehabilitation and improvement on existing assets and facilities for both water and wastewater, compliance projects relating to biological nutrient removal (BNR) for wastewater facilities, and the implementation of interim water source projects.

“These intervening water sources are critical to ensuring water availability in the coming peak demand months during summer, while major new water sources are still being built by the government,”Manila Water said.

Completed sources include deep wells with a total capacity of over 100 million liters per day (MLD).

Major water system projects were also covered by the capex.

These include the East Bay Water Supply System Project, which will utilize Laguna Lake as source, the Calawis Water Supply System Project which will treat and distribute water from the Upper Marikina Watershed, the Marikina Portable Water Treatment Plant, which will utilize Marikina River as a water source, and the landmark Novaliches-Balara Aqueduct 4 (NBAQ4) project which entails the construction of a fourth aqueduct from the La Mesa Dam to the Balara Treatment Plants (BTPs).

“It is imperative for us to focus our capital spending to meet both our water supply and sewerage service obligations. Despite the challenges, we continue to serve more than seven million people in the East Zone with safe and reliable water supply, covering over 1.3 million households and with more than 5,000 kilometers of network pipelines,” Manila Water president and CEO JV Emmanuel de Dios said.

Manila Water said it has been compliant with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ standards on environment protection through its BNR on wastewater projects. These include BNR Retrofitting in East Avenue, Quezon City, BNR Granular Adsorption Media in FTI Taguig, and BNR Operational Adjustment in Olandes Marikina.

Aside from projects related to BNR compliance, major investments were also made in the construction of more wastewater system projects. Among these are the Mandaluyong West Sewerage System, the Hinulugang Taktak Sewerage System Project with its sewage treatment plant (STP) being constructed in Antipolo City, the San Mateo-Rodriguez Sewerage System, and the North and South Pasig Sewerage System, where the Ilugin STP now on its test-run phase.

“For wastewater, we have invested close to P40 billion in capital expenditures over more than 20 years and will invest over P38 billion more until 2022,”he said.

De Dios said wastewater coverage in the East Zone is now over 30 percent, equivalent to  two million people served through nearly 400 kilometers of laid sewer network.

“This is a significant increase from only three percent coverage when we took over operations from MWSS in 1997. These accomplishments, in turn, would not have been possible if not for the support and guidance of the MWSS,” de Dios said.

Manila Water serves the east zone, covering parts of Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig, Pateros, San Juan, Taguig, Marikina,  Quezon City, portions of Manila as well as several towns in Rizal.

Last year, the company signed a revised concession agreement with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Systems, which allows it to serve the east zone until 2037.