Japan to fund MCWD’s new data system

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine government will sign today a grant agreement with the government of Japan to fund a project that will boost detection of water connection-related problems of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District.

MCWD assistant manager Ernesto Delco yesterday said the grant agreement worth P500 million will provide MCWD the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition.

Delco said that once SCADA is in place, it will tremendously help MCWD’s operation by detecting problems involving water connections.

“We will know the problem before our customer does,” said Delco citing an example that through this system, they can immediately detect which areas experience low pressure or have leaking pipes, in real time.

Another feature of this system is that MCWD will immediately switch on and off distribution lines, pumping stations or valves remotely, as compared to current system which is done manually.

This new system will also detect the level of water of MCWD’s water reservoirs.

The P500 million SCADA is a grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The Philippine government will have a counterpart of at least P60 million.

Delco said the MCWD will be the one to provide the lot for the antenna intended for this new system. It will also shoulder the maintenance when the system gets operational.

“The equipment, labor and technical expertise will be provided by JAICA,” Delco said.

Delco added that after the signing of the agreement, the Japanese government will conduct bidding with their Japanese contractors, the winner of which will implement the project in the early part of 2016.

“Mga early part of 2016 pa gyud ni ma-implement sa MCWD for a better customer service,” Delco further said.

Delco said officials from the Department of Finance and the Department of Foreign Affairs will sign the agreement, while the Japanese government will be represented by officials from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the JICA.

The MCWD will send its Production Department manager Astrophel Logarta during the signing.

MCWD has 160,000 consumers within its franchise area. — (FREEMAN)