Maynilad earmarks P8.4B for 2012 capex

Maynilad Water Services Inc. said Thursday that it programmed P8.4 billion in capital expenditures and set higher service targets for 2012, its fifth anniversary as a re-privatized company.

The firm said it was targeting 92-percent water coverage, 96-percent availability of 24/7 service, and minimum water pressure of 7 psi in 100 percent of its network. The company also wanted to bring down non-revenue water to 40 percent.

On Jan. 24, 2007, ownership and management of Maynilad was formally transferred to Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and DMCI Holdings Inc., two of the biggest conglomerates in the country today.

In its first five years of operation, Maynilad was able to prepay $240 million worth of external loans, engineer its early exit from court-administrated rehabilitation, and implement a P30-billion capital expenditure program. All this allowed the water company to significantly improve water services in the west zone in a short amount of time.

From 32 percent of its service area in 2006, Maynilad customers who now have 24-hour water supply have increased to 84 percent by the end of 2011. Meanwhile, those who receive 7 psi of water supply pressure have more than doubled from 45 percent to 96 percent during the same period.

Within five years, Maynilad also increased its customer base from only 6.1 million at the end of 2006 to 7.9 million by December last year. Included among these new customers were households and establishments in Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa and Cavite. Maynilad said that prior to its entry into these areas, residents were dependent on unsafe and expensive water deliveries from private deep-well operators.—Riza T. Olchondra