Thursday, March 06, 2008 Fix leaks instead of taking out loan By Grace L. Plata
THE Davao City Water District (DCWD) can still push through with its Comprehensive Mainline Rehabilitation Program (CMRP) even without taking out a P100-million loan from the Local Water Utilities Association (LWUA) or expending its current resources.
Davao City Investment and Promotions Center Chief Bobby Teo pointed this out at the end part of the executive-legislative forum held by DCWD at the Grand Men Seng Hotel Wednesday.
Based on the facts presented by DCWD, the P100-million loan for the CMRP will address two percent of the 10 percent system loss that the water utility suffers every year. This two percent is due to non-revenue water mostly from pipe leaks.
DCWD said recovering this non-revenue water would mean a P12.5-million revenue annually, thus the people can be assured that there would be no water rate hike or moves towards privatization as the returns would be more than enough to service the debt to LWUA.
Lawyer Eliseo Braganza, vice chair of the DCWD Board, said LWUA gives a staggered payment scheme until 15 years, thus DCWD can pay the sales loans from recovered non-revenue water.
Teo, however, questioned why DCWD has to loan P100 million to solve the two percent loss when it can make moves to recover the eight percent, which DCWD said is due to pilferage or tampered meters.
"DCWD will recover a larger revenue if that were fixed then it can go through with mainline rehabilitation using that money. No loan needed," Teo said.
Braganza, however, said DCWD would also address the pilferage problems while mainline pipe rehabilitation is ongoing.
Members of the Davao City council, on the other hand, appeared satisfied with DCWD's explanation. Present Wednesday were councilors Leonardo Avila III, Susan Isabel Reta, Edgar Ibuyan, Pilar Braga and Teresita Mata-Marañon.
"Considering ang kadugayon sa atong mga pipes, kinahanglan na gyud pulihan pero magpatawag gihapon ta ug hearing sa SP arun masabtan sa katawhan ni nga issue (Because of the age of the pipes, these have to be replaced. But we will still call a hearing at the SP to let the public understand this issue)," SP committee on government enterprises and privatization chair Jose Louie Villafuerte said.
It was under Villafuerte's committee that the letter requesting an inquiry on the loan was filed by Consumer Alert and Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa DCWD (Namadacwad).
SP Floor Leader Danilo Dayanghirang meantime said that DCWD could go on with the loan without concurrence from the City Council or the executive department.
"In a way, self-regulating na sila. Naa lang ni nga (We just had this) forum because there was a complaint in the SP opposing the loan," Dayanghirang said.
He added that on a scale of 1-10, he rates DCWD's justification at six.
"If this loan can facilitate the increase of much-needed water supply in the far-flung areas of the second district, then I think it is justified," Dayanghirang said.
However, Dayanghirang said not inviting a representative from the concerned groups is "wrong policy."
"Ang public man ang concerned ani. After all sila ang magbago kung naa may increase. Kung wala pud, kinahanglan nila masabtan. Musamot hinuon sila ug huna-huna na naay dili maayong nasabutan dinhi kay kami ra man nagsabot-sabot (The public is concerned here because they are the ones who will bear whatever increase in rates. Even if there will be no increase, they still have to know what's going on. Keeping the public out will just fan speculations that there are inside negotiations going on)," Dayanghirang said.
Members of Consumer-Alert (CA) and Namadacwad staged a protest in front of the Grand Men Seng Wednesday while the forum was ongoing.
CA Convener and Namadacwad Chair Rudy Aranjuez, in an interview Wednesday, alleged they did not receive any invitation to join in the forum.
"Gisulayan namo ug hangyo si Councilor Villafuerte ug Councilor Trinidad nga maski makasulod man lang duha ka representative namo. Ingon si Villafuerte na sulayan niya ug sulti pero hangtod karon wala may gipadala nga sugo nga pwede among representative musulod (We asked councilors Viiafuerte and Trinidad if we can send in even just two of our representatives. Villafuerte said he will try but until now, not one of them has sent out a staff to inform us that our representatives can attend)," Aranjuez said.
Aranjuez added that since they were not allowed entry, they will urge the SP to conduct its own hearing.
"This is what we plan to do during one of our session. We will tackle the issue in public in a committee as a whole," Dayanghirang said.
