Apo Agua assessing Covid-19 impact on bulk water supply system project

Photo from Apo
Photo from Apo

WITH construction works in all infrastructure projects being halted in regions implementing enhanced community quarantine because of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Davao City Bulk Water Supply Project’s (DCBWSP) construction works are also hampered, which may affect its completion target date in first half of next year.

Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc. (Apo Agua), the partner company of the Davao City Water District (DCWD) for the DCBWSP, in an email statement, said while they implemented suspension of construction works, their engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor, JV Angeles Construction Corporation (JVACC), is “continuing with non-construction-related activities through work-from-home setup and is evaluating the full impact of the pandemic on its critical value chains from labor to subcontractors and suppliers.”

“The company is also proactively working with JVACC and its project partner, the Davao City Water District, to mitigate the adverse effect of Covid-19 to the project and to recover as quickly as possible,” the statement added.

Apo Agua already started its pipe-laying activities in October 2019, as it also coordinated with 15 barangay councils, City Engineer’s Office, City Transport and Traffic Management Office, Department of Public Works and Highways-Davao and the Public Safety and Security Command Center on the traffic, security, and rescue protocols.

“We ask our fellow Dabawenyos to bear with us through the inconveniences such as traffic, which may ensue as a result of these pipe-laying activities in the second and third districts of Davao City. All of these works are for the Davao City Bulk Water Supply Project of DCWD which will benefit more than a million Davaoeños by the first half of 2021,” Ones Almario, Apo Agua general manager, was quoted as saying in its website for the project’s construction update.

However, with the recent development amid the Covid-19 crisis, Almario said Apo Agua is regularly meeting with JVACC to assess the pandemic’s full impact to the project’s timeline and to formulate a recovery plan that can be implemented once ECQ is lifted in Davao City.

“We are ascertaining when we can resume full construction activities, while putting in place the appropriate health and safety protocols,” he added.

Meanwhile, Apo Agua, through the Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., also extended help to the Davao City local government unit by providing food items for the Dabawenyos. This is part of the Aboitiz Group’s relief efforts being implemented nationwide.

Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc. (Apo Agua) is a joint venture company between Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc. and JV Angeles Construction Corporation.

It entered into a bulk water supply agreement with the Davao City Water District for the DCBWSP to shift the dependence of Davao City’s main water supply from groundwater wells to the more sustainably-sourced surface water from the Tamugan River.

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