MAYNILAD WATER Services, Inc. has earmarked P1.7 billion for its 2018 wastewater projects, which are aimed at increasing the company’s sewerage coverage while maintaining the reliability of its wastewater network.
“It is a challenge for us to facilitate the completion of wastewater projects, given the impact to traffic of laying new conveyance systems. Nonetheless, these projects are important so we can catch harmful effluents before discharge to the environment,” said Ramoncito S. Fernandez, Maynilad president and chief executive officer, in a statement.
“We need the support of local government and the communities to accelerate sewerage coverage expansion,” he added.
About P1.4 billion of this year’s wastewater budget will be used to lay around 35 kilometers of conveyance systems in Las Piñas and Muntinlupa.
Maynilad said these systems will catch wastewater generated by households and send it to the company’s three sewage treatment plants (STP). The plants in the area have a combined treatment capacity of 148 million liters of wastewater per day and serve about one million residents when fully completed, it added.
The company said P260 million of the 2018 wastewater budget had been allocated for sewer network repairs and installation of new sewer service connections. The remaining P70 million will be spent for the maintenance and operations of wastewater facilities.
This year, the company is scheduled to complete the construction of a new STP in Parañaque. It has recently started commissioning its newest STP in Pasay City.
Maynilad’s wastewater infrastructure network includes three septage treatment plants, 19 sewage treatment plants, 40 pumping stations, 22 lift stations, and more than 500 kilometers of sewer lines.
Maynilad serves certain portions of the cities of Manila, Quezon and Makati. It also covers Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon in Metro Manila.
Outside the Philippine capital, it serves the cities of Cavite, Bacoor and Imus, and the towns of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario, all in Cavite province.
Maynilad, the largest private water concessionaire in the Philippines in terms of customer base, is an agent and contractor of the state agency Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System for the west zone of the greater Manila area.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which has majority stake in Maynilad, is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Victor V. Saulon
