Manila Water to spend P197.8B up to 2037

MANILA Water Co. Inc. has allotted P197.8 billion as its capital expenditures (capex) until 2037 to develop water and usedwater facilities in its concession area.

Of the amount, the Ayala-led East Zone concessionaire said, P115.2 billion had been earmarked for building and operating wastewater treatment facilities and P82.6 billion for water supply.

The budget is indicated in Manila Water’s latest business plan approved by the state- run Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System ( MWSS) for the fourth rate rebasing period covering 2018 to 2022.

Part of the capex will also finance the construction of system projects covering 11 subcatchment areas, to be implemented in two or three phases; and rehabilitate existing sewer lines and upgrade active sewage treatment plants (STPs).

In a press briefing on Friday, Arnold Jether Mortera, Manila Water head of used-water operations, said two STPs would be completed within five years and the rest beyond the rebasing period.

These plants would be in the cities of Pasig, Makati, Mandaluyong, Manila, San Juan, Quezon, and Taguig; and in Antipolo City and San Mateo and Rodriguez towns in Rizal province, said Donna Eloisa Perez, Manila Water used-water planning department head.

Since these are modular STPs, Mortera told reporters that the plants need not to be completed in order to operate them.

These facilities are designed to cumulatively collect and treat up to almost 950 million liters per day (MLD) of wastewater from the east zone by 2037.

The Ilugin STP in Pasig, with has a 100 MLD capacity, is expected to be operational by 2020. Once completed, the plant will serve up to 765,000 households. It will also serve the subcatchment area of the city’s northern and southern portions.

Manila Water expects to increase its sewerage coverage by 32 percent in 2021 and achieve 99-percent coverage by 2037, when its concession agreement with MWSS ends.

To date, Manila Water has 38 STPs and two septage treatment plants with a total capacity of 310 MLD, serving 22 percent of total water service connections.

It has invested P33 billion in wastewater infrastructure from 1997 to 2018.

Incorporated on Jan. 6, 1997, Manila Water is the exclusive provider of water, sewerage and sanitation, distribution services, pipeworks, and management services to residential, commercial and industrial customers in the eastern part of Metro Manila and Rizal.

Shares of Manila Water rose by 40 centavos or 1.48 percent to end at P27.45 apiece on Friday.