"WE ARE still open to other potential investors for the bulk water supply project," Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said.
Lacson also denied reports that one of the interested investors in the provincial government’s bulk water supply project has backed out.
The bulk water supply project is a priority project for the Lacson administration this year.
Earlier, Aboitiz InfraCapital and the group of billionaire tycoon Enrique Razon expressed interest in investing in the project.
Representatives of Aboitiz InfraCapital, in a meeting with Lacson on February 3, are eyeing a potential P2.8 billion investment.
The Provincial Government is also gearing up to hold an investors' forum for its proposed bulk water system project under a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme, which was tentatively set for June this year.
The investors' forum will be held once the terms of reference have been finalized and once the governor has already decided which direction to take for the PPP project.
The project, however, is facing a hitch after the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) withdrew its interest in the project.
Lacson said the provincial government will proceed with its bulk water project even if Baciwa does not avail of its supply.
Lacson had earlier said the Provincial Government is taking the lead in the development of a bulk water supply project to ensure the availability of safe, clean and potable water for Negrenses.
Four local government units in the north, including the cities of Silay, Talisay and Victorias, as well as the municipality of Manapla, have expressed their intent to avail themselves of the bulk water supply under the PPP project, which would initially tap Silay's Malogo River as the surface water resource.
Data showed that groundwater availability in Negros Occidental is only at eight percent, thus, there is "an urgent need to utilize other water sources, including surface water resources, which have 92 percent availability."
The province's current underground water resources will no longer hold the province's demand by 2035, it added.