West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the city government of Manila, and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), for the implementation of DENR’s “Project: Kubeta Ko”. The collaboration is in support of the continuing Supreme Court Mandamus to clean up, rehabilitate and preserve the Manila Bay.
The “Project: Kubeta Ko” adopts a portable, container-based toilet solution to provide dignified facilities for informal settler families (ISFs) in Parola, Tondo, Manila, an area identified by the DENR and the City of Manila where some residents openly defecate into the waters of Manila Bay. The project will acquire a total of 400 portable toilet units developed by Loowatt, Limited, and donated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Under the project, Maynilad will be in charge of treating the sewage collected from the toilets, in compliance with applicable laws on wastewater and solid waste management.
The photo shows (from left) MWSS Administrator Lt. Gen. Emmanuel B. Salamat (Ret.), DENR Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, Loowatt Ltd. Founder and CEO Virginia Gardiner, Manila Mayor Francisco Moreno Domagoso, Maynilad President and CEO Ramoncito S. Fernandez, and MWSS Chief Regulator Atty. Patrick Lester N. Ty during the signing of the memorandum of agreement for the “Project Kubeta Ko”, held recently at the Diamond Hotel in Manila.