Laguna Water sets P5 B 3-year capex

MANILA, Philippines -  Laguna Water Corp., a unit of Ayala-led Manila Water Co. Inc., is spending P5 billion over the next three years to further expand its coverage in the province.

“For the next three years, our capex will be about P5 billion. This year, we allotted P1.4 billion. Our aspiration is to be the third biggest water service provider in the whole Philippines,” Laguna Water general manager and chief operating officer Melvin Tan said.

Laguna Water eyes to increase its serviced area within the province from the existing concession in Sta. Rosa, Biñan and Cabuyao, which is about half of the province.

“We are now talking to other water districts for collaboration and partnerships. While we can just lay down new pipes, we cannot just do that since it will not be practical so we really have to talk to the other water districts,” Tan said.

“We have issues with the services of the water districts. Not to demean them, but they have limited resources and access to financial capital and development of human capital. So, we really need to collaborate,” he added.

Before taking over the province, Tan said Laguna only had 14 percent connected to the pipe system and the intermittent water supply, poor water quality, and systems loss is placed at 48 percent.

“When Laguna Water came in, we set more than P3.5 billion capex, laid 564 kilometers of pipes, repaired 7,000 leaks and replaced 34 kilometers of main pipes,” he added.

 Laguna Water, the biggest business of Manila Water outside Metro Manila, has over 130,000 connections from the 17,000 connections it had when it started the concession agreement in 2009.

The company ranks third among the operators outside the metro in terms of size, next to Davao and Cebu.

Last year, Laguna Water inaugurated the Laguna Well Field, a centralized water distribution facility with a capacity to supply 100 million liters of water per day, benefitting more than 30,000 consumers.

Laguna Water is a joint venture of the provincial government of Laguna and Manila Water Philippine Ventures (MWPV), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manila Water.

MWPV holds 70 percent of the company’s shares while the provincial government owns the remaining 30 percent.

The province oversees the company’s compliance with the prescribed service levels, while the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) regulates its tariff.

Laguna Water’s operations began as early as 2004 but it was only in 2009 that its operations took off to become Laguna’s largest water service provider when MWPV acquired the stake of then AAAWater Corp.