AN ILOILO City official has asked his colleagues to give the city’s lone water utility two years to complete its rehabilitation plan and improve water services.
Councilor Eldrid Antiquerra said two years is long enough for Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) to improve its service to its consumers in the city and some towns in Iloilo province.
After two years, the City Council will conduct an investigation to determine if MIWD has improved its services and addressed the mismanagement issue hurled against it, Antiquerra said.
In December 2009, Councilor Julienne Baronda raised in a privilege speech MIWD’s alleged poor water distribution and its 42 percent system loss. She also asked the water utility to explain the status of its P400 million loan, P100 million standby fund, and the P2 million financial aid from the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).
The Commission on Audit, in its report, found no anomalies on the utilization of the water utility’s P400-million loan. State auditors had even recorded a P60 million savings “due to effective utilization” of the agency’s funds, Antiquerra said.
He said the P2 million assistance from LWUA has not yet been utilized.
Antiquerra said he had talked to officials of MIWD and was assured that rehabilitation is ongoing. He was told that P28 million had been allocated for the repair of pipelines to reduce the system loss to negligible level.