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[av_heading heading=’Brownouts worsen water shortage – Baciwa ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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BACOLOD City – Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) expounded on the issues hounding it when the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) asked it to respond to a complaint from Task Force Crusaders.
But the water district particularly admitted to shortage in supply that it said is aggravated by power interruptions.
Task Force Crusaders, a group of volunteers working under the Office of the Solicitor General, through National Deputy Commander John Chiong asked the LWUA to investigate several issues in Baciwa:
* MetroPac Water Investments Corp.’s unsolicited proposal for a joint venture with Baciwa, which was believed to lead to privatization
* proposal of Miya-Maynilad to address the nonrevenue water and expansion program of Baciwa in 2013
* P500-million loan refinanced by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP)
* still-under process bulk water supply contract, which was moving very slow
* questionable drilling of five new deep wells in September despite the bulk water supply contract
LWUA administrator Andres Ibarra asked Baciwa to explain.
General Manager Mario Macatangay said Baciwa’s service areas were experiencing water shortage, with some areas supplied only for four hours.
Frequent brownouts worsen the situation, Macatangay stressed.
They lead to further reduction in production in Baciwa’s 51 pumping stations, said the general manager.
Chiong said “concerned citizens” complained to the task force via email. He said they will inform the complainants about Baciwa’s response.
OTHER ISSUES
Macatangay told LWUA that MetroPac submitted an “unsolicited proposal” for an incorporated joint venture to rehabilitate Baciwa’s water supply system for 30 years under a build-operate-transfer scheme while retaining the water district’s status as a government-owned and -controlled corporation.
The Miya-Maynilad proposal, on the other hand, did not materialize because the Joint Venture Selection Committee recommended its rejection over “onerous provisions grossly disadvantageous to Baciwa,” he said.
Baciwa also has a P520.44-million outstanding loan with LWUA for phases II and III of its water supply improvement projects, he said.
The amount was “refinanced” through DBP at an interest of 4 percent per annum for 18 years, making way for savings that were being used for various capital expenditures projects, said Macatangay.
As for Baciwa’s 18-year bulk water supply project with Bacolod Bulk Water, Inc. — a consortium of Tubig Pilipinas, Inc., Mactan Rock Industries, Inc. and TGV Builders, Inc. — Macatangay said delivery will start on Oct. 16, 2017.
Site and right-of-way acquisition is almost complete, while application for water rights, excavation and other permits is ongoing. Groundbreaking and physical implementation is scheduled this month, he said.
Meanwhile the drilling of six deep wells is “an immediate supply augmentation measure to address the current supply shortage while waiting for the bulk water supply,” said Macatangay./PN
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