Maynilad earmarks P728M for efforts to expand customer base

Maynilad Water Services Inc. is spending P728 million this year to expand its customer base by 167,000.

In a statement, the company said its capital expenditure for 2018 covered the addition of 24,000 new service connections to meet the target volume of new customers.

“Access to potable surface water should no longer be a problem to communities in our service area,” Maynilad president and chief executive Ramoncito S. Fernandez said.

“Hence, we sustain efforts to connect more people to our network, even as we rehabilitate our distribution system to maintain 24-hour water supply at adequate pressure for current customers,” Fernandez added.

The service expansion project covers areas in the cities of Valenzuela, Caloocan, Quezon, Manila, Parañaque, Muntinlupa and Las Piñas in Metro Manila, as well as Bacoor and Imus in Cavite, and the town of Kawit.

According to Maynilad, the project will benefit mostly people living in subdivisions or open communities that still rely on deep wells and water vendors for their supply needs.

Maynilad also said that, once connected to its network, the households would enjoy water pressure ranging from 7 pounds per square inch to 16 psi.

Aside from funds for water service expansion, which include laying new pipelines, Maynilad is also spending about P3.3 billion for the maintenance and repair of existing pipes and replacement of old ones.

Maynilad is replacing 290 kilometers of old, leaky pipes this year to bring the total length of pipes replaced within Maynilad’s concession area to 2,285 kilometers—more than half of the distribution system that it inherited 11 years ago from the previous operator.

“We still need to invest in our nonrevenue water reduction program so we can bring down water losses to the optimal level of 20 percent by 2027,” he said.