Filinvest unit bags 25-year deal to supply Metro Cebu with desalinated water
MANILA, Philippines—Cebu water consumers can better supply services after Filinvest’s utility arm, FDC Utilities Inc., secured a 25-year bulk water supply deal with Metro Cebu Water District, the company said on Monday (July 12).
In a statement, FDC Utilities said the island’s largest water utility had given its wholly-owned subsidiary, FDC Water Utilities Inc., a notice of award for its unsolicited proposal to build desalination plants to supply potable water to Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City and Talisay City.
FDC Water Utilities secured the contract after its success in the competitive challenge process as prescribed by the 2013 NEDA joint venture guidelines between government and private entities which allow competing third parties to submit counterproposals.
The desalination facilities, which are FDC Water Utilities’s flagship project, will process seawater, using the so-called high-recovery seawater desalination technology of its partner Hitachi Ltd., to produce potable water.
The facilities will provide the Cebu water district a combined 80 million liters per day of high-quality potable water.
At the award of the contract at the utility’s headquarters late last week, FDC Utilities president and CEO Juan Eugenio Roxas explained that the strategic infrastructure is an essential investment of the Filinvest conglomerate to help the island’s water utility and its customers secure sustainable and reliable water supply solutions for the present and future.
“The Filinvest Group’s entry into the sustainable water space is anchored on the company’s commitment to bring further significant socio-economic impact in the communities where it conducts its business,” Roxas said. “Our collaboration with Metro Cebu Water District promotes long-term solutions to the water requirements of Cebu.”
“Cebu is an island surrounded by the sea, tapping its abundant water source will provide access to water of the appropriate quality and quantity, allowing MCWD to close the gap on its supply deficiency,” he added.
Metro Cebu Water District chair Jose Daluz said the project is vital to making water supply sufficient, adding “we need to address the increasing water supply gap through an intervening solution which is desalination.”
The project comes at a critical juncture in which investments in clean water supply systems are a top priority to mitigate the adverse effects of the COVID pandemic and where water demand continues to grow amid post-pandemic economic recovery.
Once completed, the projects will benefit thousands of households as well as meet the water requirements of various commercial and industrial establishments within Metro Cebu Water District’s service area. After decades of suffering, consumers will soon no longer experience rotating water interruptions.
