MCWD starts P15M expansion project

The Metropolitan Cebu Water District, in partnership with Vitens Evides International, has started implementing its expansion project aimed to benefit more than 6,630 residents in Cebu City.

VEI, a corporate social responsibility firm of five big water companies in The Netherlands, and MCWD will spend P15.8 million for the expansion projects in Lower Greyhound in Kinasang-an, Jansen in Basak-San Nicolas and Villa Pacita in Inayawan.

MCWD, in a statement, said that the projects are part of The Netherland's $8 million (P376 million) five-year private-public partnership water supply project that will hugely benefit the lives of 80,000 people in Metro Cebu.

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency, through its Sustainable Water Fund, is funding 55 percent or P208 million of the pro-poor water supply project. Aside from the P208 million grant, MCWD will contribute more than P112 million while VEI and the Red Cross will give P56 million as counterpart.

Just recently, officials of MCWD held the ground breaking of the Kinasang-an project.

MCWD acting general manager Noel Dalena in the same statement said it took a while for MCWD to serve the area due to lack of funds.

Dalena said that MCWD has to be prudent in its expenditures because it is self-sustaining and self-liquidating. "When we got this grant, we identified these areas which we failed to serve due to financial reasons," he said.

The contractor of the project, DSJP Construction, received the notice to proceed on June 1 and was expected to complete the project on September 28 this year or 120 calendar days from receipt of the notice. Principal engineer Julius Montejo said that the 120 calendar days include the 90-day material procurement period.

However, the delivery of the materials, which were exported from India, was delayed. In this connection, DSJP asked for an extension of the implementation of the project, which has yet to be evaluated by the Project Management Office.

Meanwhile, to promote awareness on sanitation, MCWD held a handwashing activity in Mactan Elementary School in Lapu-Lapu City.

The activity is part of the celebration of the Global Handwashing Day. Almost 200 grade 1 pupils of the school were part of the handwashing activity where they were taught the proper way of washing hands and the value of sanitation and cleanliness.

Palaubsanon/ATO