DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The P12-billion Davao City Bulk Water Supply Project (DCBWSP) is still on track with its target even at this early stage of construction, an official of the Aboitiz-led Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc. said yesterday.
Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc. general manager Cirilo Almario III said they are positive to be able to deliver water to the city in three years at the current pace of the construction of the project.
“We started early 2018 and we are expecting to finish in three years, that is first half of 2021,” he told reporters.
Almario said they did not encounter delays on the physical construction.
“We are still on track. We have no delays so far since we began. We are almost complete with the detailed design and now, its on the physical construction,” he said.
The current focus of the construction stage is the water treatment facility and the intake facility at the Tamugan River site.
“Right now, we are in the water treatment facility in the Tamugan River site where we will be putting up the weir facility and in the third or fourth quarter, we will start with the pipe laying all across the city. This accounts the bigger construction phase,” he said.
Almario also reported that they have already employed more than 170 locals sourced from the host barangays and the number is expected to climb as the construction progresses.
“This is just the start. We are expecting around 1000 employment or maybe more,” he said.
However, he did not assure that all will be sourced locally.
“Mostly locals but of course, we can’t always find a pool of skilled workers here in Davao so we have to look elsewhere who will be qualified. But our priority is the host barangays,” he said
Almario said, “after construction, we will commission the facility because everything needs to jive. Once its okay, we will give the go signal to start delivering water to the water district.”
He also noted that there are no major problems after they were done with acquiring permits. However, they expect challenges in the pipe laying.
“The big hurdle before was the acquisition of permits. As of now, we are able to run the detail design smoothly with our contractor, employment is good, equipment is also available. So far, we are not yet in the peak of construction activities so we have no delays yet,” Almario said.
“However, we are expecting issues on the pipe laying because of course, it will cause problems on traffic so we have to study the timing. But, we are trying to mitigate everything. We are in full coordination with the Department of Public Works and Highways XI as well as the City Engineer’s Office and they are very supportive ,” he added.
The Davao City bulk water supply project is undertaken by the Apo Agua and Davao City Water District to expand the coverage of water supply from 112 to 116 barangays prioritizing Cabantian and Panacan, using the river waters of Tamugan and resting the underground aquifers.
The facility is set to supply 300 million liters of safe water to the Davao City Water District (DCWD) a day once operational in 2021. (davaotoday.com)
