By RALPH JOHN MIJARES
ROXAS City — A former general manager of the Metro Roxas Water District (MRWD) challenged the water distribution facility to improve its services.
MRWD consumers are suffering from insufficient water supply, Medardo Pestaño stressed.
Pestaño also criticized MRWD’s acquisition of an additional loan to put up a supposedly “world-class” water treatment plant.
In an open letter, he disclosed that then MRWD Board of Directors chair Carmen Andrade insisted on acquiring an additional loan of P198 million in 2005 for the water district’s expansion and development projects.
Prior to acquiring the additional loan, in January 2000, MRWD entered into a P710-million loan with the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).
MRWD information officer Dante Arcangeles, however, said the additional loan was actually P193 million.
Andrade is currently an economic affairs consultant for the city government here.
Pestaño said he disapproved of the additional loan because of the “obvious non-viability of the expansion project.”
He stressed that the amount could have been used to buy facilities that could stabilize water pressure instead of put up a “world-class, computerized water treatment plant.”
Arcangeles said the fully automated water treatment plant Pestaño was referring to is the one in Sitio Paslang, Brgy. Salocon, Panitan town, which became fully operational in 2007.
Pestaño had a rift with the Board of Directors after disapproving of the plan to acquire the additional loan, the information officer said.
This prompted the LWUA to take over the water district in March 2005, Arcangeles revealed.
Engr. Gonzalo Glen Delgado, the current general manager, said the expansion and improvement projects MRWD was planning involved its transmission lines, distribution lines and reservoir.
Meanwhile, Delgado assured that MRWD’s water supply is sufficient and that the water district is monitoring possible salt intrusion.
He said MRWD will soon install a 75-horsepower backup water pump to improve water pressure. It is also trying to find and fix leaks in its pipes, he added./PN
