THE Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) will look into the complaints of 63 homeowners of a subdivision in Sudtonggan, Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City regarding the high price of water that the developer charges them.
Its office in Central Visayas reached out to homeowners on Thursday, April 13, 2023, or three days after the department was threatened with legal action before the anti-graft office for allegedly failing to act on their request for an investigation.
Antonio Dosado, one of the complainants, told SunStar Cebu Sunday, April 16, that the DHSUD invited them and the developer to a conference on Tuesday, April 18.
Dosado said Sunberry Homes charges them P350 per cubic meter of water, while the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) charges P10 to P15 per cubic meter.
In the letter they sent the DHSUD on March 21, the homeowners wanted the department top conduct a general inspection of the subdivision’s water system, drainage system and the window chimney of the restroom in every household to check if the developer followed the minimum guidelines set by the DHSUD on the construction of the houses.
They also wanted the department to verify the issuance of the project’s development permit despite the absence of a stable water supply, inspect the appropriateness of the deep well containing the water distributed among homeowners and investigate the “disproportionate amount” billed to homeowners for the provision of water from a third-party distributor.
Based on their March to April billing, Dosado said the developer continued to charge them P350 per cubic meter of water.
Apart from that, homeowners also suffer from a scheduled daily water interruption which started last March 15, even though management informed them that the subdivision was connected to or sourced its water from MCWD.
An official of Sunberry Homes who asked not to be named said the developer has no choice but to charge homeowners P350 per cubic meter of water since it gets clean water from third-party suppliers.
She said they initially applied for water service connection with MCWD, but the latter said it has no available water supply or source in the area.