A consortium of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and Korea Water Resources Corp. bagged the P24.4 billion bulk water supply project in Bulacan province, the first water project awarded under the public-private partnership (PPP) program.
“… [W]e advice that the Company, thru San Miguel Holdings Corp., received the Notice of Award issued by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) awarding the Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project in favor of the San Miguel Corporation and K-Water Resources Corp. Consortium,” SMC told the local bourse on Tuesday.
MWSS issued the notice of award to the consortium on December 7.
“SMC-K Water Consortium offered the best bid for Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project with the lowest bulk water charge of P8.50 per cubic meter,” the PPP Center said in a separate statement on its website.
According to the PPP Center, the project will provide treated bulk water to the various water districts of Bulacan to meet the increasing demand of consumers. It will also expand the current service area and increase the number of household customers.
Under a build-operate-and-transfer agreement, the consortium will finance, design and construct, and maintain the conveyance and treatment facilities and water source for 30 years.
“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,” PPP Center Executive Director Cosette V. Canilao said.
An offshoot of the project is reducing the use of deep well, mitigating the adverse impact of excessive groundwater extraction.
“MWSS takes water security seriously,” said MWSS Administrator Gerardo Esquivel. “The spirit and soul behind Water Security is not about the abundance of water but the availability of water for all, particularly the poor,” he said.
The project is one of two MWSS projects under the PPP program, together with the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam estimated at P18.72 billion.
08 December 2015
By Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VS,
