Costly botched project

The top executives of Maynilad Water Services Inc. joined us in our Tuesday Club (TC) breakfast coffee shop talks last Feb. 14 coinciding with Valentines’ Day. Ramon “Mon” Fernandez and Randolph “Randy” Estrellado, the chief executive officer (CEO) and the chief operating officer, respectively, of Maynilad led the roundtable discussions about their company’s investment plans that included major water infrastructure projects.

It was a timely discussion on these matters following Malacañang’s announcement a week earlier that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) is set to issue an Executive Order (EO) that will create a Water Resources Management Office (WRMO).

The new office will only serve as a transitory body pending passage into law of the bill seeking to create a Department of Water Resources (DWR). The proposed establishment of DWR is one of the 19 priority administration bills that PBBM identified during his maiden state of the nation address at the opening of the first regular sessions of the 19th Congress in July last year.

At the meeting though of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) last week, Malacañang and the lawmakers did not include the DWR bills as among those that must be approved into law before the adjournment of both chambers of Congress on June 2.

As envisioned by PBBM, the soon-to-be created WRMO will formulate an Integrated Water Management Plan (IWMP) that will integrate various plans of different government water regulatory agencies. It would also set policies and implement structural reforms on water management to address issues including the critical supply of fresh water.

Initially, PBBM identified the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS); the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA); and, the National Water Resources Board (NWRB). As far as the Maynilad is concerned, the creation of the WRMO is a most welcome move by the Marcos administration.

By way of a joke to break the ice, Fernandez waxed romantic lines to the boisterous reaction of his captured audience of TC members: “Hindi bale na walang love life basta may water…because water is life.”  Incidentally, the TC is composed of top editors, veteran media practitioners, top corporate communications and public relations executives as well as incumbent and former government officials and members of Congress. (The former publisher of The Philippine Star, the late journalist Maximo Soliven was one of the founding fathers of the TC.)

Levity aside, Fernandez announced Maynilad will be spending P220 billion from 2023 to 2027 to further improve the quality and reliability of their company’s water and wastewater services. A major part of these investments, Fernandez enumerated, include the development of additional water sources. So that, he stressed, more supply will be available to meet the growing demand for clean, potable drinking water running in our faucets uninterrupted 24/7.

For his part, Estrellado identified seven new water treatment plants being put up by Maynilad to add around 545 million liters per day (MLD) to the company’s water production. And these new water treatment plants will help reduce service interruptions to both its industrial and residential customers, especially those located in the southern parts in Metro Manila in the West Concession Zone of Maynilad-serviced areas, including Cavite.

According to him, these new facilities of Maynilad will draw water sources from the Laguna Lake, some rivers in Cavite, and barring further hitches, the soon- to-be constructed Kaliwa Dam in the Sierra Madre Mountains. This will lessen over-reliance on the Angat Dam, which has been the only major water source for Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Under the concession contract with the MWSS, the water from Angat Dam in Bulacan is shared by Maynilad (60 percent) and the remaining 40 percent with Manila Water Corp. serving the East Zone concession. In June 2001, billionaire industrialist Ricky Razon took over the majority control of Manila Water. Under Razon’s new capital infusion, his company is currently finishing the P24.5-billion bulk water source project from Wawa Dam in Rizal to make it operational by year 2025.

On the other hand, Maynilad also draws water source from the Laguna Lake. But Fernandez admitted it has been very challenging for the Maynilad to contend with the high costs of technology to clean up turbidity of the water and make it fit and safe for human consumption. Through years of pollution, presence of a lot of fish pens operators, and utter neglect, the quality of raw water of the Laguna Lake has been deleteriously impaired.

At present, Maynilad has two treatment plants in Putatan, Muntinlupa City and in Poblacion that both draw from the Laguna Lake for the 300 MLD of water to supply around 1.7 million of its customers.

Fernandez rued a simple “amihan” or northeasterly winds that sweep through the Laguna Lake further turn the waters more murky and muddy. With the Laguna Lake down to just less than two meters deep, the “amihan” drive more sediments and silts getting into the Maynilad treatment plant. Oftentimes, it causes malfunction of the treatment plant. Thus, water supply is cut in their southern Metro Manila serviced areas.

According to Fernandez, Maynilad has been regularly dredging the 200-meter perimeter fenced-off areas around their water treatment plant. But they can only do so much to dredge it, he conceded. Thus, the Maynilad has been making representations with the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) to conduct a wider, massive dredging that the Lake badly needs.

Sadly, up to now we – taxpayers – are still paying for the costly P18.7-billion Laguna Lake project that got botched in 2011.

(Disclosure: The Maynilad is part of the conglomerates under the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) of business leader/industrialist Manny V. Pangilinan. Part of the MPIC is MediaQuest, the umbrella group of media entities that included The Philippine Star.)