Maynilad Water Services Inc., the concessionaire for the west zone of Metro Manila, plans to build a new water treatment facility in Putatan, Muntilupa to expand its capacity and avert a water shortage.
Maynilad chief operating officer Randolph Estrellado said the group was looking at a third facility capable of producing 100 million liters per day of potable water.
“If the Kaliwa Dam is not completed by 2024, then we will have water shortage. On the business plan that we submitted we said that if we don’t see Kaliwa dam significantly moving by 2021 we will initiate moves to build Potatan treatment plant 3,” Estrellado said.
Maynilad is currently building a second water treatment plant in Potatan with a capacity of 150 mld worth P6.5 billion. The facility is scheduled for completion by May 2018.
Kaliwa Dam, or the New Centennial Water Source Project, is seen to provide water security, reliability and additional supply for Metro Manila.
It is planned to be site specific, zeroing in on the Kaliwa-Kanan-Agos River Basin as an alternative water source.
The project involves the construction of a dam at the Kaliwa River (Laiban Dam), and a smaller dam (Kaliwa Dam) downstream to maximize the water supply and to ensure short and long-term supply for Metro Manila and adjoining areas.
The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System is currently in talks with the Finance Department for the procurement process as the project will be implemented through official development assistance or foreign loans.
Three Chinese contractors have been shortlisted to implement the project as recommended by the China Ministry of Commerce.
MWSS will conduct its own due diligence on the shortlisted contractors before awarding the project.
Estrallado said Maynilad continued to improve water services within its concession area.
He said since taking over the west zone in 2006, Maynilad replaced 7,674 kilometers of pipelines, expanding water coverage of 93 percent of the concession area with 1.34 million connections.
