West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc., a partnership between Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, DMCI Holdings and Marubeni Corporation, expects its business to further improve this year.
In an interview, Maynilad President Ramoncito Fernandez said “this should be a better year. The economy is still growing and definitely demand for water will still continue to grow.”
He added that "we’re looking forward for a better year--much, much better. Our water supply is definitely better with La Nina. Plus all of our programs and projects have already started to yield positive impact to our operation.”
Fernandez said the company is sticking to its five-year capital spending plan of P160 billion, of which capital expenditures for the year will amount to at least P30 billion, more likely higher.
He explained that the bulk of the budget will be for the expansion of its potable water business while about 30 percent will be spent for the establishment of new wastewater treatment plants.
In a previous interview, Maynilad Chief Operating Officer Randolph Estrellado said their capital expenditures will be funded by a combination of internally generated funds as well as bank financing—pointing out that it is now easier for them to get loans since banks are no longer worried about Maynilad’s viability since their rate adjustments have already been approved.
Maynilad is awarding projects worth P30 billion in investments for a water treatment plant and the laying of pipes in Rizal province.
Of this amount, P10 billion will be spent for the construction of the water treatment plant while P20 billion will be for the laying of pipes connecting the Kaliwa Dam to the plant and down to its customers.
He said the initial portions of these investments will come from the P26 billion Maynilad is committed to spend next year as part of its concession agreement.
“It is critical for us that, when the Kaliwa Dam is completed, these projects will also be completed,” he said noting that the government is saying the dam will be completed in 2028 or 2029.
Estrellado explained that “it is necessary that, before the dam is completed, all our projects should also be completed since it takes about three years to build a treatment plant. Then we still have to lay pipes from Teresa, Rizal down Binangonan and across the Laguna Lake."
“What we don’t want to happen is for the Kaliwa Dam to be completed but we have not completed anything yet. We have to work on the timing so that the dam and our pipes are completed around the same time since we also do not want to complete too early and have our asset lying idle ... Hopefully we will finish our projects on time because, typically, securing the permits is the biggest issue for us since it could take over a year just to get permits to lay wastewater pipes,” he noted.