Manila Water unit to spend P4.3 B in Boracay

MANILA, Philippines - The Boracay unit of Ayala-led Manila Water Co. Inc. is set to invest at least P4.3 billion for the remaining years of its concession as it crafts a  masterplan to sustain Boracay Island.

Boracay Island Water Co. Inc. will spend P4.28 billion starting this year until 2034 to build a new water source to service the steady increase of tourists in the island.

Tourists arrival in Boracay is expected to reach two million this year and will almost double to 3.94 million by 2034.

Boracay Water Business Operations head Blanca Aldaba said the huge chunk of the total budget or about P3.07 billion would be spent for the first five years to add 15 million liters per day (MLD) of water by the end of the concession agreement.

“The current facility can no longer handle the waste of the island that’s why we need to rehabilitate and build new facilities,” Aldaba said.

Apart from the construction of a new water source facility, Boracay Water will undertake supply transmission through energization of new pumping stations and supply distribution and treatment process by upgrading island pumping stations, network pipe-laying projects, and water meter replacement and standardization.

Aldaba said the company would expand and rehabilitate its facilities intended for its wastewater and network systems, as well as construct communal septic tanks for sanitation services.

“The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has revised its required standard of effluence so we also have to cope because the existing facilities cannot handle that,” she added.

“Boracay is the only tourist destination with centralized sewer system. And to sustain the tourism in the island, there should be efficient waste and water system,” Aldaba said.

Currently, Boracay Water has 6,400 water service connections, 70 percent of which is residential while the remaining 30 percent is commercial.

But consumption-wise, commercial sector still consumes approximately 70 percent of the total water supply in the island.

Just recently, the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority’s regulatory office has approved the hike in water rates in Boracay.

Based on the approved water rates, Boracay Water will implement an upward adjustment of 30.14 percent to its residential and commercial customers.

The rate hike was based on the first tranche of this year’s rate rebasing and will be effective starting July 1.

For the first quarter of 2017, Boracay Water posted billed water volume at 1.3 million cubic meters, up six percent from 1.2 million cubic meters a year ago.

The growth was driven by a two percent expansion in water service connection to 6,551 from 6,396 in the comparative period.

Boracay Water was formed through a 25-year concession agreement between Manila Water Philippine Ventures and the TIEZA in 2009.