Lowest bidders for Iloilo water project named

ILOILO CITY — Bulk water supply contracts will awarded this week to three firms that joined the bidding conducted by Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) last week. Maynilad Water Services, Inc., Solerex Water Technologies, Inc. and Abejo Builders Corp. submitted the lowest bids for four MIWD segments. MIWD director Adrian N. Moncada told journalists here that the supply contracts involve a total daily supply of 20,000 cubic meters of water. The bidders were allocated four injection points where they can connect their contracted water supply. Maynilad’s bid of P11.98 per cu.m. won the contract for the Pavia injection point, which has a total capacity of 10,000 cu.m., while Solerex bagged the contract for the Leganes injection point with 2,000 cu.m. capacity at P14.28/cu.m. and Abejo will supply 8,000 cu.m. through the San Miguel and Ungka (Jaro) injection points at P13.98/cu.m. The winning bidders tendered prices below the P15/cu.m. approved budget for construction, as stipulated in the MIWD’s terms of reference. Under the bulk water supply agreement, the winning bidders will look for sources and establish the supply line which will connect to MIWD’s four injection points in Jaro, Iloilo City and the towns of Leganes, San Miguel and Pavia. Celso G. Javelosa, MIWD board chairman, said the special bids and awards committee is undertaking the post-qualification assessment of the three bidders. Mr. Javelosa said the committee will recommend to the board the awarding of contracts to the three firms during its Dec. 17 board meeting. The contracted water supply will serve part of MIWD’s 31,000 consumers in Iloilo City and neighboring towns. Some 74%, or 23,000, of MIWD consumers are based in Iloilo City, while the other consumers are spread in the towns of Pavia, Sta. Barbara, Cabatuan, Maasin, San Miguel and Oton. The utility now produces a total of 45,000 cu.m. a day from surface and underground sources, but MIWD distributes only 26,100 cu.m. because some 42% of production is considered non-revenue water due to pilferage and other forms of system losses. The additional 20,000 cu.m. supply from bulk contractors will serve an additional 23% of the firm’s total consumers. Aside from the bulk water project, Mr. Moncada said they are looking for surface water sources to augment supply. Mr. Moncada said MIWD’s ground-water sources in San Miguel and Oton have already been depleted because of saltwater intrusion. — Francis Allan L. Angelo, BusinessWorld