Boracay rehab anchored on water service providers
The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority is playing a major role in the rehabilitation of Boracay island, according to TIEZA chief operating officer Pocholo Paragas.
Paragas disclosed that the Office of the President (OP) affirmed the Department of Justice’s decision mandating TIEZA as the sole regulator of water and sewerage systems in tourism zones such as Boracay.
“We want to make good on this mandate and ensure that rehabilitation efforts are for the long term,” said Paragas. “Even before the pronouncement of President Duterte to rehabilitate Boracay, the TIEZA board has already allotted more than P1 billion to improve its water and drainage systems and had commenced the project last December.”
Part of TIEZA’s mandate is the development of tourism zones and tourism economic zones as well as tourism infrastructure projects in the country.
“TIEZA works to rehabilitate our tourism assets and create new ones with partner-investors. We want to implement sustainability practices not only in Boracay but also to replicate it in other tourism areas,” he said.
The TIEZA Regulatory Office is working closely with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the existing water service providers in the island – Boracay Tubi System Inc. and the Boracay Island Water Co. – to institute more accountability and ensure better and responsible service.
The TIEZA RO and DENR immediately collaborated for a clarification on the previously issued memoranda with DENR issuing Memorandum Order No. 2018-04 dated Sept. 18.
The MO provides that connection to the sewer network is sufficient for hotels with 39 rooms and below along the white/long beach, and hotels with 49 rooms and below elsewhere in the island. Individual sewage treatment plants are mandatory only along the white/long beach for hotels with 40 or more rooms.
“With TIEZA as sole regulator of water utilities, we will prioritize the overall satisfaction of the customers of the WSPs especially the tourists,” said TIEZA RO chief regulator Darren Fernandez. “We will ensure the sustainability of the water management systems.”