Wednesday, August 10, 2005
After 8 years, talks resume on idle water wells
By Liberty A. Pinili
CEBU CITY -- After a long legal battle, the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) and Compostela Mayor Antonio Dangoy are talking again.
This could result in additional water to parched Metro Cebu. But if ever MCWD is allowed to operate its pumping stations in Compostela town in northern Cebu, the water district will need P70 million to rehabilitate facilities there.
MCWD board chairman Juan Saul Montecillo revealed that the water district has had several talks with Mayor Dangoy starting early this year regarding the Compostela well field, which in 1992 had an estimated yield of 10,000 cubic meters a day.
Montecillo, in a press conference Tuesday, said an ad hoc committee has been formed to study two options: for MCWD to rehabilitate and operate the 14 wells in the town or for Compostela to take on the undertaking.
He said, though, that it will take P70 million to rehabilitate the well field as some equipment have to be replaced or repaired.
MCWD also needs to study if the capacity of wells remains 10,000 cubic meters. In 1992, the water firm was set to operate the groundwater wells and pumping stations in Compostela, which were funded by a P100-million loan from the Asian Development Bank.
But the Municipal Government refused to grant the permits needed by MCWD, prompting the water district to file a complaint against the town mayor with the Office of the Ombudsman, and later in court.
Outside the court, the last reported dialogue between MCWD and Dangoy was in 1997, when water firm officials and the mayor signed a memorandum in the presence of then president Fidel Ramos.
Montecillo said if it is later agreed that MCWD can operate the wells, the water district may have to apply for a loan to rehabilitate the facility.
In the meantime, MCWD is looking at other possible sources of water.
MCWD general manager Armando Paredes dismissed a report that the water district has refused to allow private sector participation in water supply projects.
Paredes said MCWD has been open to the private sector, citing the proposal of the Malaysian firm, Johan Holdings Berhad, in 1994 that involved the building of a high dam across Mananga River; that of Brown and Root/Anglo Philippines to sell water from Inabanga, Bohol; and recently the offer of Ayala Corp. and Stateland Inc. to pipe in water from Carmen town in northern Cebu.
MCWD is still negotiating with the Ayala-Stateland consortium, while the other two proposals have been shelved due to high costs.
Paredes said MCWD also had negotiations with the French firm Compania Generale de Eux and Aboitiz Group of Companies to improve the water district's distribution system. But the private proponents did not pursue the proposal and refused to accept MCWD's "no cure, no pay" condition (meaning, if there is no improvement to the system, MCWD will not pay the proponent).
He also pointed out that MCWD has been buying water from three private suppliers: Mactan Rock Industries since 1997; Foremost Water Systems/Helpmate Inc. starting 2002; and Abejo Builders Corp./Watcon since 2003.
All three supply a total of 14,000 cubic meters of water a day.
Paredes said MCWD is also finding ways to further raise its systems recovery rate, which is now at 72 percent, which means that the water firm has reduced the volume of water lost due to leaks and pilferage.
MCWD produces about 153,000 cubic meters a day, but due to systems loss, only 110,000 cubic meters are distributed to over 100,000 concessionaires.
Total demand in Metro Cebu, though, is pegged at 250,000 cubic meters a day.
(August 10, 2005 issue)
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