PHL major utility companies await bid for Davao City's P10 B surface water extraction

DAVAO CITY - The country's powerhouse in water utility operations have indicated their interest to bid for this city's water extraction project that would double the existing water production for one fo the country's fastest growing city.

Among the companies that participated an April roadshow this year were the Maynilad of Manuel V. Pangilinan, the Manila Water of the Ayala group, the MacroAsia of Lucio Tan, the Prime Water of former Sen. Manny Villar, and the DMCI of the Consunji group.  A Korean company, K Water, also participated in the roadshow.

Imelda Magsusi, spokesperson of the DAvao City Water District, said another Manila-based group, the Jose Virgilio Angeles, was the only company that offered an "unsolicited" proposal on how to develop a viable extraction operation of the still pristine Tamugan River up north of this city to augment the drinking water production.

"All these companies, and othe minor ones, attended our roadshow and they all indicated to participate in the bidding," she said.

The DCWD has eyed an extraction operation in the Tamugan River more than 70 kilometers north of downtown, and where it flows in the still remote hinterlands. Its project proposal would want to extract a minimum of 280,000 cubic meters of water per day, slightly more than double the current production of its 52 wells.

Its current production however, was already considered sufficient for the population at the 2011 level, which was estimated to be around 1.3 million residents. A 2008 report of the city said that the population was already 1.5 million, a figure that still ranked the city the fourth populous city after Quezon City, Manila and  Caloocan.

"Current production is already not sufficient anymore. So we have to embark on this project," she told a news briefing here on Monday.

She said that DCWD has clarified with the interested bidders that it wanted a joint venture agreement along the government concept of a private-public partnership.

She said though that the bidding would have to wait for the final decision of the Office of the Government Corporate Council, the governing body of all government-owned and controlled corporations. She said though, that the OGCC has indicated it wanted the 2008 guideline of the National Economic Deverlopment Authority to govern the bidding process. Under the guideline, bidders are required to match the bid amount per cubic meter.

Magsuci said that the agency wanted the bidding to be finished this year to start the construction that would take another three years. "Our timetable is for the project to start operating by 2017," she said.

The JVA proposal, for instance, has indicated that it would initially start producing 250,000 cubic meter per day and to increase it later.

"We would like to rest the extraction at the Dumoy aquifers to allow it to recharge," she said. The Dumoy area account for 36 of the 52 drilling wells in the city, and its underground water has landed the city as having the second best tasting water in the world.

She said that upon start of the Tamugan River extraction, six of the Dumoy wells would be stopped, and to be followed by the remaining 30 wells. The wells would only resume production in 2025, with the resumption of the six wells, and followed by the 30 wells in 2035.

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