THE ZAMBOANGA CITY Water District remains silent over the proposal by the Ayala Corporation to invest in the water system here.
The details of the proposal are unknown as this was not made public by the ZCWD for a still unknown reason. It has been long pending with the ZCWD.
Ayala Corporation acquired 140 million common shares of Manila Water Co., Inc. representing a 5.7% interest in the water utility. The shares were acquired from its strategic partner, Mitsubishi Corporation, which has been a long-time partner of Ayala since 1974 and has been a shareholder of Manila Water since 1997.
Apart from Manila Water’s concession in Metro Manila’s East Zone, the company currently has four domestic water businesses which include Boracay Water, Laguna Water, Clark Water, and a bulk water supply project in Cebu.
Combined, these businesses serve a population of 8.0 million Filipinos and Manila Water has continued to expand coverage and consistently reduce non-revenue water or system leakage over the past years.
Manila Water has also expanded into water businesses around the ASEAN region, particularly in Vietnam where its expertise in water service and quality has been validated with the acquisition of two bulk water supply facilities in Ho Chi Minh City. Its leakage reduction project in Ho Chi Minh City which started in 2008 has outperformed its target and has benefited 25% of the city’s 6 million population.
Mayor Beng Climaco has welcomed the investment proposal, especially at this time where many barangays are suffering from lack of water supply. “We welcome this development and we hope the ZCWD will act on it accordingly to improve our water supply,” Climaco said in a recent television interview.
While she praised the investment proposed by the Ayala Group of Companies, Climaco said there are other considerations that ZCWD must take such as retrofitting of water pipes in most government offices due to leaks and wastage of water.
“So we have to look at the system on how to reduce the water revenue and how to utilize the rain water as well,” Climaco said, adding, public cooperation and discipline are needed to save water.
“The bottom line here is individual discipline – discipline in observance of traffic rules, discipline in disposal of garbage, and discipline in water usage,” she said.
Climaco has assured the public that the local government is doing its best to help end the water crisis here.
The ZCWD Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ZamboangaCityWaterDistrict) is flooded with complaints – from allegations of being inefficient to poor customer service.
Some of the complaints were: “I called them 3x because there is a broken pipe in the main road, but it’s been almost a month but no action. It’s not our loss actually because it is before the meter. So if they don’t care it’s not my problem anymore.”
“They don’t deliver water every day, we don’t have enough water to use! Very poor service as ever!”
“Dear Zamboanga City Water District management, we are from Pasonanca and yet we suffer a lot regarding the water system. For how many days now we don’t have a good water supply. We are experiencing the same with the people from Carmen Valley because we have the same pipeline. We pay a lot for water, but look at it now, we need to go to the river just to wash our plates and we need to carry water from the river to use in the bathroom. My son yesterday got a wound on his hand because he stumbled at the side of the river bank. ZCWD, pls do something.”
And the worse part of it, the ZCWD have not responded to any of the complaints posted on its social media account which is filled only with water rationing advisories. (Zamboanga Post)
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