Traders back ADB water project

Higher water rates or no water at all?

That’s the question posed by Cebu business leaders to opponents of an Asian Development Bank-led water project that would reportedly result in a $400-million loan to be contracted by the Mactan Cebu Water District (MCWD).

In text messages sent to Cebu Daily News, Cebu Business Club president Gordon Alan Joseph and Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) president Eric Ng Mendoza said the project will ensure sustainability of Cebu’s water supply.

“I don’t see what the MCWD union should be concerned about. A project to develop a better and adequate water supply system is a welcome development. We’d be foolish not to embrace this long-neglected development,” Joseph said.

The MCWD Employees Union (MEU) voiced their concern on the ADB project, saying it may result in water prices rising to as high as P19 per cubic meter in 2015 from only P13 per cubic meter today.

In a press conference last week, they alleged that the ADB’s Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project will entail a loan of $400 million, of which $300 million will be sourced from the private sector and the remaining $100 million from ADB.

Half of the US $800-million project will go to the MCWD with the other half to the Davao City Water District.

Cope and conserve

Joseph said the issue is not about water rates but the sustainability of Cebu’s water supply.

“It isn’t a question of readiness (for water price increase), it’s a question of water supply. And out of necessity we will learn to cope and conserve.”

But Joseph said  like power, water should also be regulated.

“I say no water is far more expensive than water at P19 a cubic meter. Having said that, the project and the contract must be transparent, and as in the case of power utilities, with fixed formulas and profit margin for the project owner,” he said.

Mendoza agreed, saying water is an important resource that should not be neglected.

He said the water rate issue should come second to the supply issue.

Home makers randomly asked by Cebu Daily News admitted that they have little choice but to conserve water in order not to add to the monthly bills.

Still premature

Kathleen Apple Caintic of San Nicolas, Cebu City, said she’s okay with paying more so long as there is water.

“Mas maayo nang siguro na, kaysa wala tay tubig (that’s better than having no water at all),” Caintic said.

Irene Cadorna, a househelp from Mandaue City, said she always makes sure she doesn’t waste water because her employers always remind her to conserve its use.

Earlier, Felicisimo A. Salcedo, MEU president, said they are partnering with the Alliance of Government Workers in the Water Sector (AGWWAS) and the Public Services International (PSI) in opposing the ADB project.

The project, which will be implemented within 11 years, is aimed at finding other water sources, improving water distribution system and installing septage treatment facilities.

Union officer Rowen Lorenzo Montecillo, MEU vice president for external affairs, said such a project should be undertaken by the national government instead in cooperation with the local government units (LGUs).

But it was unclear how the union arrived at the P19 per cubic meter increase.

In a statement, MCWD general manager Armando Paredes said it was still premature to talk about a loan that may compromise the water district’s financial status.

Open to talks

Paredes said the ADB project is one example of a public-private partnership effort being encouraged by the Aquino administration.

He said the MCWD will hold public hearings first on any water rate increase.

It is the Local Water Utilities Administration that will approve or deny any water rate increase, Paredes said.

“Common sense dictates that you do not take a loan that you cannot pay,” he said.

Paredes said the MCWD is into public-private partnership through joint venture contracts or buying water from private suppliers to improve its water services.

“The MCWD still takes care of the distribution. The customers are still ours,” Paredes said.

The water district services most of Metro Cebu and Consolacion town and a portion of Lapu-Lapu City.

Paredes said the MCWD management is open to talks with its union to clarify issues with them on the ADB project. With a report from Correspondent Rhea Ruth V. Rosell