Capitol eyes new joint venture with Manila Water

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia is now in initial talks with Manila Water Corporation, Inc. for another possible joint venture project.

The provincial government’s official news network, Sugbo News, reported that the governor already met with Manila Water’s Chief Operating Officer Melvin John Tan to discuss some plans.

Manila Water of billionaire Enrique Razon Jr. already has an existing joint venture deal with the Capitol through the Cebu Manila Water Development Inc. (CMWD). The joint venture firm extracts 35 million liters of water daily from the Luyang River in Carmen town and supplies this to the Metropolitan Cebu Water District.

This time the proposed joint venture deal is for the operation and maintenance of Capitol-funded bulk water projects across the province.

The initial local government units involved include Dalaguete, Tuburan, Asturias, Pinamungajan, Aloguinsan, San Remigio, Tabuelan, Sogod, Dumanjug, Ronda, Alcantara, Badian, and Ginatilan.

Manila Water is expected to present a formal proposal before the Provincial Economic Enterprise Council headed by the governor.

The Capitol has already invested for 11 bulk water facilities in different parts of the province out of the 26 planned in the pipeline. It has an initial allocation of ?3 billion.

Bulk water development is among the priorities of the governor’s infrastructure development agenda as part of her long-term goal of providing stable water supply to every household in the province. — (FREEMAN)