Manila Water plans to raise P10B this year

Ayala-led Manila Water Co. Inc. will be raising as much as P10 billion to fund its various corporate activities this year, a company official said Thursday. Chito Oreta, Manila Water chief financial officer, told reporters that it will primarily raise funds through banks and "the rest of the capital expenditures [capex] will be funded using company equities." Oreta pointed out that Manila Water will announce "firmer figures" for its capex during the annual stockholders meeting on April 11. Last year, the water utility firm spent almost P10 billion to finance its operations and expansion activities, company records showed. Wastewater treatment facilities On Thursday, Manila Water inaugurated the World Bank-assisted Olandes sewage treatment plant designed to clean up domestic wastewater from Marikina and Quezon City and reduce pollution in Marikina River. The $4.69-million Olandes sewage treatment plant is one of the many plants the Manila Water has established in its concession area, which covers Makati, Pasig, Mandaluyong, Marikina, San Juan, Taguig, Pateros, most parts of Quezon City, some parts of Manila, and some cities and municipalities in Rizal province. The Olandes sewage treatment plant can process up to 10 million liters per day of domestic wastewater from 40,000 residents. Manila Water has built five major wastewater treatment facilities throughout its concession area, according to a World Bank statement. Three more sewage treatment plants are expected to be completed this year, the statement added. World Bank country director Bert Hofman said the multilateral lender is supporting the establishment of wastewater treatment facilities as they are in line with the requirement of the Clean Water Act of 2004, the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan 2004-2010, and the Supreme Court ruling ordering the government to clean up Manila Bay. "This project demonstrates how a strong partnership and collaboration among the government agencies, the private sector, and multilateral institutions could achieve so much in terms of cleaning up the environment and ultimately improving the health of Metro Manila residents," Hofman said in a statement. — JE/OMG, GMANews.TV