Maynilad to invest P6B in water treatment plants

Maynilad Water Services Inc. expects to create 18,397 jobs in 2016 as the company pours in P6 billion to expand its portfolio of wastewater treatment plants and sewerage facilities this year.

Maynilad yesterday said in a statement that funding for its wastewater projects would come from local and international bank loans, as well as internally generated funds.

The company’s wastewater infrastructure network currently includes three septage treatment plants, 19 sewage treatment plants, 40 pumping stations, 22 lift stations, and more than 500 kilometers of sewer lines.

“It is a challenge to implement sewerage projects because of the inconvenience that inevitably results from laying the conveyance systems,” Maynilad president and chief executive Ramoncito S. Fernandez said.

“We ask for the patience of the general public as we aim to facilitate the completion of our wastewater infrastructure, which is necessary to protect community health and the environment,” he added.

Of the capital expenditures kitty for wastewater projects, some P4.6 billion is earmarked for the construction of sewage treatment plants in Cavite City and central Manila.

When completed, these new facilities will have a combined wastewater treatment capacity of 160 million liters per day, which can serve about 900,000 customers.

Also, P1.2 billion is allotted to the construction of about 15 kilometers of conveyance systems, also in Cavite City and central Manila.

The remainder of the budget will go to the maintenance of existing facilities, as well as sanitation programs in several areas of Maynilad’s concession area.

Last week, Maynilad said it may finish “within a month” the realignment of its pipes that were found to be on the path of the redesigned Naia Expressway project in the vicinity of the Villamor Air Base.

Ryan Jamora, head of central non-revenue water engineering and construction at Maynilad, said in a statement the company was informed of the need to move the pipes only last  Feb. 18.

This snag that the expressway hit involves two pipelines with diameters of 100 millimeters and 200 mm.