West zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. said it has poured in over P41 billion to improve and expand wastewater services since the privatization of Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System’s operations in 1997.
The company said the amount funded the construction of at least 19 new wastewater treatment facilities and the upgrade of three existing ones, among other improvements.
The amount was also used to purchase 89 new vacuum trucks for septic tank cleaning, installation of 180 kilometers of new sewer lines and maintenance of the sewerage system, apart from the building of four additional sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Valenzuela, Las Piñas, and Tunasan and Cupang in Muntinupa that are currently in development.
The company is set to spend P200 billion more to continue the expansion of the wastewater infrastructure until 100 percent sewerage coverage in the west zone is attained by 2037, including the commitment to rehabilitate five esteros in Manila that drain out to Manila Bay.
“Maynilad only got out of corporate rehabilitation in 2008, so we had just 11 years to work on expanding wastewater services. Despite this, we have managed to build new wastewater facilities that now prevent untreated effluents from polluting our waterways.
This is where all the bill payments of our customers go,” Ramoncito Fernandez, Maynilad president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Among the company’s recently completed STPs are in Pasay and Parañaque, bringing the total combined sewage treatment capacity of its 22 wastewater facilities to 664,000 cubic meters of wastewater per day.
As of end-2019, it caters sewerage services to some 2 million people, up from only around 600,000 people served with sewerage services in 1997.
Maynilad is the largest private water concessionaire in the Philippines in terms of customer base. It covers Manila, Quezon City, Makati, Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon; the cities of Cavite, Bacoor and Imus and the towns of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario that are all in Cavite.
