Cebu bulk water project ready after 2013 election

THE Carmen bulk water project is targeted for completion on June 2013, a month after the May elections.

By then it will be ready to supply and sell water to potential customers like the Metro Cebu Water District and towns in north Cebu.

Virgilio Rivera of the Manila Water Consortium said negotiations for road right of way and feasibility study validation will proceed in May this year.

The Province of Cebu and the Ayala-led consortium signed a joint investment agreement for the P702-million project last March 21 at the Capitol.

In a briefing, Rivera said the detailed engineering design and approval will be done by June.

A weir and extraction facilities will be built in Luyang River in Carmen town, said Manila Water Consortium president Gerardo Ablaza Jr.

A weir is a small dam in a river or stream.

“It’s not a dam which is going to be destructive. There will be no displacement of communities, no flooding because it will not be a (high) dam, it will be a weir,” Ablaza said.

From the extraction facility, water will be channeled through large pipes to a treatment plant and on to the water district or municipal water supply provider on a bulk water supply basis.

Rivera said they aim to secure an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) in October. The project will start operation in the fourth quarter of 2013.

This means actual water supply and sales will take place after the May 2013 local elections.

The Cebu bulk water supply project targets serving central and north Cebu customers—local government units, water districts and other water distributors.

Under the joint investment agreement, the consortium will help develop water supply facilities to deliver bulk water to target cities and towns.

Under a Design-Build-Finance-Operate scheme, the project will deliver 35 million liters per day.

Water from the Luyang River will be treated and stored, then pumped and transmitted to a proposed reservoir in Liloan town. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus