Metro Dumaguete Water (MDW), a three way partnership between Dumaguete City Water District and Metro Pacific Water, has pledged a P524-million investment over the following five years to reinforce the town’s water supply infrastructure and repair delivery.
“The capital expenditure (CAPEX) program is a key component of the corporate’s long-term master plan to make sure reliable and inexpensive water for all residents,” MDW said in a press release.
MDW’s chief operating officer (COO), Robert R. Cabiles, said that the greater than P500 million investment might be allocated to 4 key areas, including service improvements, non-revenue water (NRW) management, source development, and the adoption of recent technologies.
Under the CAPEX program, Mr. Cabiles said the utility plans to develop a brand new pumping station to supply additional water supply to northern barangays, in addition to conduct essential pipe improvements to fulfill population and demand growth.
He noted that although various improvements have been made in recent times, some parts of the town still don’t enjoy 24/7 water availability.
“These zones have been identified in our first five years of operations and have been factored into our master plan,” Mr. Cabiles said in a press release.
“The sustainable solutions for these areas have been identified and might be rolled out in the following one to 3 years,” he added.
The COO also highlighted the utility’s achievements up to now 12 months, including the establishment of two pumping stations and the addition of 4 kilometers of transmission pipeline. He said that MDW now covers 95% of the town, serving 135,000 residents.
A 24/7 customer support hotline and over 1,000 recent payment partners were also implemented and might be accessed by MDW’s customers.
Mr. Cabiles assured the town council that despite substantial capital expenditures, MDW continues to supply a minimum charge of P202.50, noting that it stays some of the inexpensive water rates within the province.
MPW, certainly one of the joint-venture partners of MDW, is the water infrastructure investment subsidiary of the Pangilinan-led conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC).
MPIC is certainly one of the three key 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 Helpful Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority share in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Edg Adrian A. Eva