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Thursday, June 15, 2006
Cebu water rates go up starting July
CEBU CITY -- The cost of producing and supplying water is draining the Metropolitan Cebu Water District’s (MCWD) resources that it needs to raise its rates by 12 percent starting July 1.
“We have deferred the increase until July. It was supposed to take effect in January this year yet,” MCWD public affairs manager Terry Andaya told Sun.Star Cebu Wednesday.
In a separate interview, MCWD Chairman Juan Saul Montecillo admitted that water would be cheaper if the firm will operate its own wells than buying from private water sources.
MCWD urged Compostela Mayor Antonio Danggoy to issue them the electrical permit so it can operate five of the 14 wells in the northern town.
The wells cost MCWD P100 million but these have remained idle for 14 years already. Montecillo and MCWD General Manager Armando Paredes said in a press conference Wednesday that if the five wells are running, the firm will have an additional 5,000 cubic meters of potable water per day at P20 per cubic meter.
Paredes said that allowing the operations of the wells will mean the Compostela Municipal Government is giving MCWD the chance to recover its investment.
In return, Compostela water consumers will get a subsidized rate of P11 per cubic meter.
By July 1, the water rates will pegged at P15 per cubic meter for 11 to 20 cu. m. consumption per month; P17.65 per cu. m. for 21 to 20 cu. m. consumption; and P48.40 per cu. m. for 31 cu. m. and above consumption.
Paredes said MCWD needs to operate the 14 wells in Compostela to recover its P100-million investment.
“Even (the water experts) at University of San Carlos who are not even our consultants confirmed the findings that there is really excess water which is just flowing out to the sea in Compostela. So, there’s really not much to worry about,” Paredes said.
Mayor Dangoy has refused to issue electrical permit for fear that the municipal groundwater sources might dry up.
The wells in the northern Cebu town were drilled in 1992.
MCWD has gone to court to compel Compostela officials to grant the permits. But last March, the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the municipality, saying the local government’s responsibilities and powers include the protection of its constituents’ welfare such as protecting the town’s water resources.
“Because of their handling of the case dili na gyud mi ganahan ana nila (We don’t like how they handled the case),” Danggoy said over radio dyLA Wednesday.
The mayor would rather leave it to the court to decide since MCWD has asked the Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision.
MCWD, though, continues to negotiate with Compostela outside the courtroom.
Paredes proposed that MCWD and Danggoy form a joint committee to do an evaluation before they will start operating the wells.
“To ensure that they get the water first, before the excess is delivered to other towns, we are willing to provide direct chlorination and distribution lines feeding to the Compostela water system. It’s only after their needs are already meet that the excess can go to other towns,” Paredes said.
At present, MCWD supplies 40 percent of the demand of its consumers. It has a water supply project in the pipeline with the consortium composed of Ayala Corp., Manila Water Company Inc. and Stateland Inc.
But the P2-billion bulk water supply agreement for the delivery of 46,000 cubic meters of potable water to Metro Cebu from Carmen town is still being evaluated by the National Economic and Development Authority and can still be challenged by other companies.
Meanwhile, the P100 million spent for the Compostela well fields is now part of the P1.2-billion loan MCWD had secured from the Development Bank of the Philippines to buy out its debts from the Local Water Utilities Administration. (EOB of Sun.Star Cebu)
(June 15, 2006 issue)
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