Maynilad taps WB loan for STPs

Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) is set to receive a $137.5-million loan from the World Bank, which it plans to use to partially fund some of its wastewater-treatment projects.

Maynilad said the World Bank loan would fund four of the 13 Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) that the service provider wants to build starting this year until 2015.

The four projects to be funded by the loan from World Bank will have a total capacity of 187,500 cubic meters per day and will serve about 300,000 households in Quezon City, Pasay, Valenzuela and Muntinlupa.

According to Tony Garcia, Maynilad’s head of sewerage and sanitation, the loan package will help accelerate the construction of sewerage and sanitation infrastructure, which will in turn help improve the environmental, sanitation and health conditions in Maynilad’s concession area.

The $137.5-million budget is part of the $275-million World Bank loan that will be divided between the two concessionaires of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).

A sovereign guarantee, which the government has already issued, is required for the loan to be processed.

“We are accelerating the construction of our STPs for the benefit of the environment and our customers,” Maynilad president and CEO Ricky Vargas said.

Vargas lauded the government’s move as “a testament on how vital Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is on the growth of the nation’s economy.”

Maynilad is a concessionaire of the MWSS for the West Zone of the Greater Manila Area, which is composed of the cities of Manila (all but portions of San Andres and Sta Ana), Quezon City (west of San Juan River, West Avenue, Edsa, Congressional, Mindanao Avenue, the northern part starting from the Districts of the Holy Spirit & Batasan Hills), Makati (west of South Super Hi-way), Caloocan, Pasay, Paranaque, Las Pinas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon; Cavite City; and the towns of Bacoor, Imus, Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario, all in Cavite province.