Phl lines up $1.1-B PPP water projects

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration is holding a market sounding conference tomorrow to drum up interest from foreign and local investors for three major water infrastructure projects worth $1.1 billion scheduled to be auctioned in the second half of the year.

PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao said the forum dubbed as “Invest Water PH: A Water Infrastructure Projects Forum Towards Water Security” intends to put on the table two public private partnership (PPP) projects and a project to be funded under an official development assistance (ODA) facility.

The forum aims to market and promote the water infrastructure projects of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) under its Water Security Legacy Plan.

 â€œOur aim is to attract private sector to participate in those water projects,” Canilao said.

The PPP projects under the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) Law or Republic Act 7718 include the $416.1 million New Centennial Water Source – Kaliwa Dam Project (NCWSP) as well as the $542.22 million Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project (BBWSP).

The NCWSP intends to augment the supply of raw water and reducing dependence on Angat Dam helping ensure water security in Metro Manila and adjoining provinces.

The project involves the construction of a 600 million liters per day (MLD) dam, 2,400 MLD water conveyance tunnel, access roads, bridges, and drainage to be used in the building of the dam.

On the other hand, the BBWSP intends to supply treated bulk water to water districts in Bulacan province through the construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities for abstraction, treatment, and conveyance of treated bulk water supply; land acquisition and right-of-way access as well as social, resettlement, and environmental facilities cost.

Under the project, water districts may be clustered based on the most efficient technical design considering geographical location, terrain, demand, and availability of supply.

MWSS would make available 5.5 cubic meters per second (CMS) from its water rights in Angat Reservoir for the project.

Likewise, an ODA-funded Angat Water Transmission improvement project (AWTIP) worth $134 million would also be offered to prospective investors on Tuesday.

The project to be funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) involves the construction of a new 6.4 kilometer tunnel with a capacity of 19 CMS to Bigte Basin from the Ipo Dam.

The AWTIP aims to improve the reliability and security of raw water supply for MWSS through the partial rehabilitation of the raw water transmission system to La Mesa dam from Ipo dam as well as the introduction of water safety, risk, and asset management.

The Aquino government is looking at issuing the invitation to bid for the three projects within this month.

Water levels at the dams in Angat, La Mesa , and Ipo that services majority of Metro Manila’s water supply are in critical level due to the lack of rain.