Manila Water to fill up supply shortfall in Cebu

MANILA, Philippines — Razon-led Manila Water Philippine Ventures Inc. (MWPV) is eyeing to serve around a third of the 250 million liters per day (MLD) water deficit of Cebu City with its planned bulk water supply development.

In a briefing yesterday, MWPV chief executive officer Melvin John Tan said Cebu is an integral part of the company’s Visayas strategy.

“Our best estimate is that today, Cebu has water supply deficit of 250 million liters per day or 250 MLD. The dam we want to construct in Cebu primarily addresses a third of that water supply deficit,” he said.

MWPV is committed to pursue the bulk water supply project to address the water shortage in Cebu City.

“Over two weeks ago, we’ve officially submitted our letter of intent (LOI) with a full intent to submit our proposal by early next year,” Tan said.

Its planned project will utilize the Mananga River, which has its head waters in Cebu City and drains to Talisay City. It is also one of the three protected watersheds of Cebu.

Apart from Cebu, MWPV will also focus on expanding in other areas, particularly the top metros all over the country.

“For instance in North Luzon, the anchor there is Pangasinan. In central Luzon, its Pampanga and Bulacan areas. In South Luzon, Laguna, Batangas, Cavite areas. In Visayas and Mindanao, Cebu and Davao. Those are the key markets that we are looking at,” Tan said.

Currently, MWPV already has some businesses in those areas.

There are regional teams in the areas I mentioned. We certainly want to expand our footprint in those areas further,” Tan said.

MWPV is a subsidiary of Manila Water Co. Inc. which houses the parent firm’s domestic units outside of the East Zone.

Companies under MWPV include LagunaAAA Water Corp., Boracay Island Water Co., Clark Water Corp., Manila Water Consortium Inc., and Estate Water, an operating division under MWPV which operates and manages the water systems of townships developed by Ayala Land Inc.

A subsidiary of MW Consortium is Cebu Manila Water Development Inc. which provides bulk water in the province of Cebu.

The group has other new projects in its portfolio including the Zamboanga City performance-based non-revenue water reduction project under Zamboanga Water Company Inc. and the Tagum City bulk water supply project under Tagum Water Company Inc. among others.

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