Bulk water project part only of solutions: Exec

THE COMPANY behind the setting of the bulk water supply project is expected to provide potable water to the Davao City Water District by June 2021, the year when supply requirement is expected to hit 137 million cubic meters.

Cirilo Almario III, general manager of Apo Agua Infrastructura Inc., said during the weekly Wednesdays @ Habi at Kape – Abreeza yesterday that the company will start laying pipes within the third quarter of the year as peak of the construction is expected to hit by that time.

“We are still on track,” said Almario, adding that the company has completed the detail design of the project and that it has also started “installing the intake facilities as well as the treatment facility.”

This developed as an official of the water utility said despite the additional water source from the private entity, the water district will still operate 15 of its 65 production wells, while the rest will be put to rest, as it is also expected to set up two production wells as the water district receives about 9,000 applications annually.

“The project of Apo Agua cannot really fully answer the water demand of the city,” said lawyer Bernardo D. Delima Jr. spokesperson of the water

utility.

Next year, customers of the utility will need about 122 million cubic meters of water and will increase by 137 million metric tons the following year. The project can supply about 126 million cubic meters of water from the Tamugan River under the bulk water project.

The water district is also expected to build two production wells every year as the utility is spending between P30 million to P40 million a production well.

Delima said that 68 high-rise buildings and 63 subdivisions, all of them expected to be completed in 2021, have submitted application for water connection.

On the question of labor force, Almario said the company has adequate workers, particularly those who will do the labor aspect of the project, as it is tapping usually those in the villages.

On peak, he said, the number of workers is expected to hit about 1,000 and that for skilled workers, the contractor will get the supply of human resources from nearby areas.

“In terms of labor we are not having problems; actually our problem is that we cannot accommodate (the applications) forwarded to us by the barangays (that are hosts of the project,” said Almario, adding that those from the host barangays are the priority to be accommodated.

The National Economic and Development Authority earlier said there is a need for additional skilled construction workers because of the continued construction activities in the city as a result of the implementation of the “Build, Build. Build” of the government and the high construction activities of the private sector.