BY DWIGHT SARGA
[ Malaya.com.ph ] January 27, 2010
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is giving the Ayala-led Manila Water Co. Inc. (MWCI) a $300,000 grant to undertake a feasibility study assessing the waste water and sanitation needs on the eastern side of the Pasig River.
The study would help in putting up a waste water treatment system.
A separate $50,000 grant is given to the Lopez-led ABS-CBN Foundation Inc. (AFI) for a project aimed at educating residents on proper sanitation and waste disposal.
ADB said the six-month feasibility study would evaluate areas in Metro Manila that cause Pasig River pollution and recommend an effective and economic sewerage system.
This would lead to the building of a waste water treatment system under MWCI’s Pasig River catchment sewerage project covering Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Pasig, Makati, Taguig and Pateros.
This is also in line with MCWI’s 10-year project, the Three River Master Plan, that would rehabilitate the Pasig, Marikina and San Juan rivers.
MWCI chief finance officer Luis Juan Oreta said the ADB-sponsored feasibility would add up to the company’s knowledge on the necessary steps to be taken in rehabilitating the Pasig River and the creation of adequate waste water treatment plants in Metro Manila.
ADB’s partnership with MWCI and ABS-CBN is part of the lender bank’s increasing engagement with the private sector in promoting development, said ADB private sector operations director general Philip Erquiaga.
MWCI is spending P50 billion for the waste water treatment under the Three River Master Plan.
The plan aims at increasing the sewer coverage in MWCI’s east concession zone from 30 percent of the rivers’ catchment area at the end of 2010 to 100 percent by 2018.
The project would be financed by MWCI funds and loans coming from ADB and World Bank.
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