Sanchez: Right of way is not right

NOW we see a word war between Bacolod Bulk Water Inc. (BBWI) and the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa).

And the loser? Make that, losers. The consumers, especially the Alijisnons. Perhaps, even those residents of Mansilingan.

For BBWI and Baciwa, it’s business as usual. Baciwa is unable to enforce its notice of violation with its contractor.

BBWI is committed to provide accessible clean water to Bacolod City. Well, hello, last week, it was able to deliver only for one day. And then, nada. Nada!

BBWI can deliver, and it has proved it. That is, once in awhile. Instead, all it does is to deliver excuses. Plenty of ‘em.

It says the number one issue is the non-delivery of water to the reservoir of Baciwa. They have already been delivering to the 600 mm pipeline of Baciwa since November but not to the reservoir due to right-of-way issues.

Really, as of this writing, our faucets are as dry as the Desierto de Atacama in Chile.

The contractor insists they have already secured the pipes but they cannot lay them until they can get all the right-of-way permits from the landowners.

I’m beginning to doubt BBWI was able to secure an environmental impact assessment, much less an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC).

The ECC and Environmental Impact Statement process requires the FULL PARTICIPATION AND INVOLVEMENT of the local community and all relevant stakeholders.

The ECC is a document issued by the DENR and the EMB after a positive review of an ECC application, certifying that the proposed project will not cause significant negative environmental impact.

Under the ECC, the consortium is committed to implement measures presented in the EIS to protect and mitigate against any adverse impacts on the health and welfare of community and the environment. That means, it has to undergo a process of securing social acceptability.

In other words, in its project implement, BBWI should have started with the ECC and the EIS. So why is it whining that it is encountering difficulties with right-of-way permits?

It says they have not been paid a single centavo by Baciwa, but it has started to supply water to residents and businesses in the city since its inauguration in 2017.

Mark Roxas, BBWI chief operations officer, said they expect to collect P3.5 million to P400 million a month from Baciwa since they started delivering last November. Their plant costs P250 million.

Instead of bragging about its pesos and centavos expenses and project revenues, BBWI might well regale us with its EIS, especially on its procurement of social acceptability.

(bqsanc@yahoo.mail)

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph