GMA inaugurates Taguig wastewater treatment plant

President Arroyo inaugurated a P330-million wastewater treatment plant in Taguig City yesterday.

Considered the biggest such facility in Asia, the plant would serve 86,000 households in Metro Manila and is a major component of the P3.14-billion Manila Third Sewerage Plant (MTSP) being implemented by the Manila Water Co. (MWC) through a $64-million loan from the World Bank.

Mrs. Arroyo was accompanied by Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes in the ribbon-cutting and switch-on ceremonies for the South Septage Treatment Plant (SSTP) of MWC.

Also present during the event were World Bank vice president for East Asia and Pacific James Adam, MWC president Antonio Aquino, Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) Administrator Lorenzo Jamora, Taguig City Mayor Sigfrido Tinga, and FTI president Bueno Castillo.

"This (septage facility) is a component of the ‘Beautiful Cities Program’ for the Green Philippines Environmental Plan (GPEP)," Mrs. Arroyo said as she congratulated MWC for the speedy completion of the project.

The facility will serve 3.3 million people or 86,000 households in Metro Manila, particularly the cities of Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig and Taguig, and the municipalities of San Juan and Pateros.

Construction of the new septage plant was started in March 2006 and was finished ahead of the target completion date in July.

Mrs. Arroyo said the scope of the GPEP is four-fold: reforestation, preservation of reefs and waterways, scrubbing the land and air of pollutants, and energy independence. – With Rhodina Villanueva