MWSS issues bulk water PPP award notice to SMC-K Water

The Philippine Government formally awards its first water project under the country’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program.

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) has issued today the Notice of Award (NOA) to the consortium of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) and Korea Water Resources Corporation (K Water) for the P24.4 billion bulk water supply PPP project in the Province of Bulacan.

SMC-K Water Consortium offered the best bid for Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project (BBWSP) with the lowest bulk water charge of P8.50 per cubic meter.

The bid parameter for BBWSP is the lowest bulk water charge per cubic meter that Bulacan water districts would have to pay the private partner.

“By tapping the private sector in this project, government will be able to deliver better services and secure access to potable water of millions of Filipinos in the Province of Bulacan,” said PPP Center Executive Director Cosette V. Canilao.

Executive Director Canilao added that project will also reduce use of deep wells which will help mitigate the adverse environmental impact of excessive groundwater extraction.

During the November 24, 2015 opening of the financial proposals, Administrator Gerardo Esquivel emphasized that “MWSS takes water security seriously. The spirit and soul behind Water Security is not about the abundance of water but the availability of water for all, particularly the poor.”

This is what Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project is all about. This project is not about providing water to the 24 municipalities alone, nor is it just construction of a modular water treatment facility, nor is it about the conveyance system with 1.2 diameter pipes. All these are about water security, equality, fairness, and leveling up the lives of many Filipinos that continue to be deprived of a basic human right,” he added.

BBWSP will provide treated bulk water to the 24 water service providers in Bulacan to help meet the increasing water demand of its consumers, expand its current service area coverage, and increase the households served.

Under a 30-year build-operate-and-transfer (BOT) contractual arrangement, the private partner will undertake the financing, detailed design and construction, and operation and maintenance of conveyance facilities, treatment facilities and water source.

The BBWSP is one of the two water projects of the MWSS under the country’s PPP Program together with the P18.72 billion New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project.