COA: Probe new water deal

City Councilor Enrico Salcedo wants the Commission on Audit (COA) to conduct an audit review of the new contract entered into by the Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD) and MetroPac Water Investments Corp. to ensure that the contract is not disadvantageous to the people of the city.

On Monday, the City Council approved three resolutions on the developments regarding COWD's bulk water supply at the prodding of Salcedo.

First, the City Council wants the COWD to provide the council both the Rio Verde and MetroPac contracts; second, it is requesting the COA to release the COA audit report on the Rio Verde; and third, it is requesting the COA to review the new contract between the COWD and MetroPac.

Salcedo said copies of both contracts are necessary for the council and the people to understand the intricacies of the joint venture agreement and the bulk water supplier contract.

"Nangayo ta ug kontrata sa COWD ug MetroPac para makita nato kung unsay joint venture na buot pasabot nila, kay atong ikompara kung unsay kontrata sa Rio verde ug sa COWD, kay nganung muingon man sila na bulk supplier lang ang Rio Verde ug dili joint venture? So we can only assume there is difference. What do they mean sa joint venture? that's why mangayo ug copy sa contract kay galibog ta," he said.

“Also, we need a copy because if we see that we need to nullify the contract, we have the copy to begin with. In this way, masiguro nato ang water supply kay as what we observed, ayha ra nagsugod ang problema sa Rio Verde pag signing sa Metropac ug COWD sa joint venture agreement,” he said.

Salcedo said these copies would clear suspicions of consumers that the water problems plaguing the western part of the city for weeks now is artificial and is being used to justify the entry of a new player.

He said he is also requesting for the COA audit report on Rio Verde which supposedly found anomalies in the contract between the firm and COWD, leading to the termination of the relationship between the water district and Rio Verde.

“Mao ng atong sigurohon ang sulod sa audit report kay nganung dili man pwede mag re-contract nalang ang Rio Verde ug COWD, why what’s wrong? And to make sure also that this contract is not bogus and to prevent their previous mistake, so this why na we are asking the COA to review the new contract too,” Salcedo added.

Following the termination of the contract between COWD and Rio Verde, the COWD entered into a joint venture agreement with MetroPac to form the Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water Incorporated (COBI), which will supply the COWD’s water requirement.

Engineer Rachel Beja, COWD general manager, earlier said that MetroPac will be getting a 95 percent share of the profit, proportionate to MetroPac’s investment of P140 million compared to COWD’s P7 million.

A 30-year bulk water supply contract between COBI and COWD will likely be signed by month end, allowing the new firm to begin supplying water to COWD before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, residents of the western part of the city continue to experience water shortage as repairs of the damaged underwater pipe will not be completed for another week.

The Rio Verde said it has been delivering 40,000 cubic meter per day to the COWD take-off point at Pueblo de Oro using its spare pipe. However, residual pressure at its takeoff point is still zero, as of this writing.