West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) connected almost 53,000 water service connections to its distribution network in 2017, bringing its total number of accounts to more than 1.4 million. These new connections were mostly in Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Quezon City, Valenzuela, Caloocan, and parts of Cavite province.
Maynilad now provides potable water to some 9.4 million people—an increase of 54% from the 6.1 million customers it served 11 years ago before it was re-privatization in 2007.
At the end of 2017, around 98% percent of Maynilad customers have 24-hour water supply—up from only 32% who enjoyed the same service level before 2007. Moreover, 100% of Maynilad customers receive their water at the average pressure of 7 psi (pounds per square inch), which is enough to bring water up to the second floor of a house. The company is now aiming to boost water pressure to 16 psi., and managed to provide this level of water pressure to 70.52% of its concession area.
“We have yet to reach more than 600,000 residents in the West Zone, who still rely on unsustainable water sources like deep wells for their daily needs. More investments are still needed to expand our distribution network so that we can provide these people with potable surface water,†said Maynilad President and CEO Ramoncito S. Fernandez.
This year, Maynilad has allotted ₱9 billion for capital expenditure projects, of which ₱6.5 billion will be for water infrastructure investments. Of the ₱6.5 billion, about ₱1.1 billion is earmarked for the company’s service expansion efforts, which include pipe-laying projects that will connect still-unserved areas.
Maynilad is the largest private water concessionaire in the Philippines in terms of customer base. It is the agent and contractor of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for the West Zone of the Greater Manila Area, which is composed of the cities of Manila (certain portions), Quezon City (certain portions), Makati (west of South Super Highway), Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon all in Metro Manila; the cities of Cavite, Bacoor and Imus, and the towns of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario, all in Cavite Province.