RYAN Yapkianwee promised Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) concessionaires that they will receive not the four to six hours a day of freshwater as the new Baciwa normal but a 24/7 water supply by October 12, 2017. That means last week.
Mr. Yapkianwee is the corporate chair of the Bacolod Bulk Water Inc. (BBWI). He promised on September 7, 2017 that they can deliver water by October 12, the target date to start the operation of Injection Point 1 in Barangay Granada.
In December 2016, the P1.1-billion bulk water supply project of the BBWI and Baciwa looked promising, with start of the construction of its facility at the Javelona property in Abada-Escay Road in Barangay Granada, Bacolod City.
This project will address the shortage of water supply of Baciwa. Back then, its concessionaires receive freshwater four to six hours a day. But with the bulk water project, there will be 24/7 water supply.
Guess what? It didn’t happen. We received water last Saturday at 11 p.m. that lasted until 7 a.m. the following day. Eight hours.
Are we supposed to count our blessings that the four to six hours now run eight hours? That isn’t even half of the expected 24-hour service delivery.
The official excuse is not technical but legal. Any Bacolod lawyer can anticipate in hazard risk analysis of future that results will come out differently as planned.
The contract with BBWI states that from the water treatment plant the water supply has to go through the reservoir where Baciwa’s water meter is located before it goes to its water pipes. Did BBWI and Baciwa failed to anticipate issues on right-of-way?
For a P1.1-billion project, that seems to indicate poor planning for both the consortium and the public utility. The current general manager is a lawyer who said BBWI is still negotiating with the landowners to get a right-of-way for their pipes to pass from its water treatment plant to Baciwa’s reservoir in Purok Loygoy.
To think by this time millions of pesos must have been spent. Why was a stalemate not anticipated? So what happens if there is a stalemate between BBWI/Baciwa and the landowners? The bulk water project becomes a white elephant? Are there alternative options if negotiations bog down, as what it seems are happening?
In fact, is there even a Plan B? Councilor Wilson Gamboa, the chair of Bacolod Water Consumers Watch Inc. (BWCWI), said an option for additional six wells is unnecessary because the bulk water is already set to deliver the water supply. So where is the water? From rainfall?
Baciwa, BBWI and BWCWI have forgotten Murphy’s Law. “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” And it did. Plan B, as it’s turning out, is to come out with excuses to justify non-delivery of desired results.
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(bqsanc@yahoo.com)