TO AVERT a water crisis, the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) will open its procurement process to secure new water supply on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, the same day Cebu Manila Water Development Inc.’s (CMWD) termination of its contract to supply 35 million liters per day (MLD) of water to MCWD takes effect.
Without the 35 MLD supply from CMWD, the water district’s consumers from the towns of Compostela, Liloan, Consolacion and the cities of Mandaue, Cebu and Lapu-Lapu City, would experience low to no water supply.
As a stop-gap measure, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, for the Cebu Provincial Government, and General Manager Edgar Donoso for MCWD signed last Nov. 29 an emergency water supply agreement at the Capitol Compound in Cebu City, but this ensures the continued supply of water to these areas only until Jan. 31, 2024.
CMWD is a joint investment firm formed through a Joint Investment Agreement (JIA) between the Manila Water Consortium Inc. (MWCI) and the Province of Cebu on March 12, 2012, to provide bulk water to Metro Cebu. The JIA involves the construction of a bulk water facility that would deliver 35 million liters of water per day from the Luyang River in the northern Cebu town of Carmen.
In a phone interview on Thursday, Nov. 30, MCWD spokesperson Minerva Gerodias told SunStar Cebu that from Dec. 1, 2023 to Jan. 31, 2024, the water district will actively look for another supplier for its 35 MLD bulk water supply.
Any bidders could participate in the procurement process, said Gerodias.
“It is a procurement process; therefore, it is open to all possible suppliers,” Gerodias said.
It will be the bids and awards committee of MCWD that will decide on who will be the next supplier of their bulk water supply.
She added that once their interim contract with Cebu Province lapses, the latter will cease selling bulk water to MCWD.
Under the emergency supply agreement signed last Wednesday, the Cebu Provincial Government will directly purchase 35 MLD of bulk water supply from CMWD’s water treatment facility at the Luyang River in Carmen, and then sell the potable water to MCWD at the same tariff rate of P24.59 per cubic meter indicated in the 20-year Bulk Water Supply Agreement signed by CMWD and MCWD in 2013.
Wednesday’s contract signing was witnessed by Donato Villa for the Cebu Provincial Government, and MCWD Chairman Jose Daluz III, Vice Chairman Miguelito Pato and Corporate Secretary Jodelyn May Seno.
In 2013, MCWD and CMWD agreed that CMWD would supply 35 MLD of water to MCWD for P24.59 per cubic meter for 20 years without escalation.
But the unchanged tariff rate has left CMWD struggling financially due to the now higher costs of fuel, electricity, materials and personnel, prompting CMWD to terminate its supply contract with MCWD.
Board membership
Also on Thursday, MCWD expressed its gratitude to Garcia for recognizing Daluz as the chairman, as well as Pato and Seno as members of MCWD’s board of directors (BOD), amid the water district’s rift with the Cebu City Government over the latter’s own BOD appointments.
“The governor’s declaration, aligning with the decision of the Local Water Utilities Administration and the opinion of the Office of the Government Corporate Council, has further strengthened the status quo stance taken by the entire MCWD management and workforce,” MCWD said in a statement.
MCWD serves eight local government units, six of them under the jurisdiction of the Cebu Provincial Government, namely Compostela, Liloan, Consolacion, Mandaue City, Cordova, and Talisay City.
The two other LGUs served by MCWD are the highly urbanized cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu.