Metro Manila east-zone water concessionaire Manila Water Co. Inc. has increased its budget for this year?s capital expenditure to P10 billion from P8 billion because of acceleration of projects related to wastewater treatment, company president Antonio Aquino said Tuesday.

The publicly listed subsidiary of Ayala Corp. will use internally generated funds and the proceeds of a P4-billion bond offer in late 2008 to finance the capital expenditure, or capex, Aquino said.

About P4-P5 billion will be for wastewater treatment projects, compared with P1-P2 billion in the original budget, he said.

?This is in compliance with the Supreme Court order on wastewater treatment programs? for Manila Bay, Aquino said. ?A major component of this is our commitment, together with our stakeholders, to clean up the Pasig River.?

The Supreme Court has ordered several government agencies to clean up, rehabilitate and restore the Manila Bay.

Manila Water and its counterpart in the west zone, Maynilad Water Services Inc., are participants in a seven-year multi-sector program to rehabilitate the Pasig River?s water into Class C ? fit for fishery. Class B water is fit for recreation and Class A water is fit for drinking.

Aquino said investments in improving system efficiency would also continue to help improve revenue.

In 2008, Manila Water spent a total of P4.2 billion for capex and concession fees payments.

The company has reported a net income of P2.8 billion in 2008, compared with P2.4 billion in 2007, as new household connections and increased system efficiency boosted sales.

Total revenues reached P9.0 billion, up from P7.8 billion in 2007. The sales volume rose 4.0 percent to 387 million cubic meters from 373 million in 2007.

The company reported a decline in systems losses, mainly from water leakage and pilferage, to 19.6 percent last year from 24 percent in 2007 and as high as 63 percent in 1997.strong> With editing by INQUIRER.net