Maynilad Water Services Inc. is pressing on to complete within this year as planned the construction of three sewage treatment plants (STPs) while continuing to work on two others.
Intended to help reduce pollution in Manila Bay, the five projects with a total cost of P29 billion will mainly benefit communities in the cities of Caloocan, Las Piñas, Manila, Valenzuela and Muntinlupa.
Maynilad president and chief executive Ramoncito S. Fernandez said in a statement that although community quarantine restrictions made it more difficult to facilitate the projects, work continued as part of their commitment to protect the environment by making sure effluents meet legal standards.
Restrictions
“On top of these, we also spend much more on projects to provide clean and potable water to our more than 9 million customers,” he said.
“We might add that these projects generate jobs and business opportunities, which have been drastically affected by the pandemic,” he said.
Scheduled for completion within this year, three of the projects are intended to provide sewage service to about 700,000 residents in Muntinlupa and Valenzuela.
Now being built in Barangay Marulas in Valenzuela and in Barangays Cupang and Tunasan in Muntinlupa, these STPs are designed to treat up to 126,000 cubic meters of wastewater per day.
Fernandez last March said these three STPs were nearing completion and that Maynilad would strive to get these new facilities running and serving communities within this year.
The fourth and biggest of the batch is the P10.5-billion Camana (Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas) and Las Piñas Water Reclamation Facilities project. Construction started in November 2019 and is slated for completion in 2025.
Further, Maynilad is also building an STP in Ayala Southvale in Muntinlupa.
—RONNEL W. DOMINGO