By means of Heroes Joy Talavera Reporter
METRO Pacific Water (MPW) is deploying new water solutions in Iloilo City to meet increasing demand, the company’s president said.
“We still have a long way to go in meeting the basic water needs of every Filipino, but that is our main goal: we want to provide every Filipino with an adequate supply of treated water,” said MPW President and CEO Andrew B . Pangilinan said in an interview with Business world.
“We will continue to have discussions with local government units, even on the commercial side, and we will look for ways to come up with new solutions, such as desalination, in providing water and wastewater services to the country,” he added.
MPW will develop a P5 billion desalination plant in Iloilo City in partnership with France-based water and wastewater management solutions provider Suez.
The desalination plant is designed to produce 66.5 million liters of water per day.
Mr Pangilinan said they plan to start construction on the project in January next year, with completion scheduled for early 2027.
MPW previously said Metro Iloilo is “undergoing rapid economic and population growth,” which is putting “pressure” on existing water resources.
The company signed a joint venture agreement with Metro Iloilo Water District in 2018 for the 25-year concession for the rehabilitation, expansion and improvement of the water distribution system and wastewater management facilities.
The joint venture, Metro Pacific Iloilo Water, serves Iloilo City and the municipalities of Pavia, Leganes, Sta. Barbara, Cabatuan, Oton, San Miguel and Maasin.
“Admittedly, the last few years we have been there, there has been a real water shortage. So right now, the most feasible solution, the fastest solution, is to install a desalination plant,” Mr. Pangilinan said.
He said desalination is the most viable option because other traditional sources such as surface water and groundwater are no longer viable in Iloilo due to pollution.
“We still have several groundwater sources that are being conserved, but they are already showing signs of deterioration, so we really need to find a better water source, and right now desalination is the most feasible,” he said.
A desalination plant is designed to capture seawater and remove its salinity to produce fresh water, Mr. Pangilinan said.
Once successful, the company is open to using the project as a guideline to replicate it in other areas.
MPW is the water infrastructure investment subsidiary of Pangilinan-led conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC).
MPIC is one of the three main Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. ., has a majority share in Business world through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.