MANILA – Fines incurred by Manila Water for recent service interruptions will not be passed on to consumers, its parent company Ayala Corp. said Friday.
Manila Water was slapped with a P534-million fine and was asked to put up a P600-million fund to develop a new water source following a supply crisis that affected tens of thousands in Metro Manila’s east zone.
“The amount we’re going to pay are large but when we discussed it with the board, we basically decided it’s probably more important to just accept it and move forward,” Ayala Corp. president Fernando Zobel de Ayala said during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting.
“I think it’s best we pay the fine. It would not be passed on to consumers, we will have to absorb it as a company and we move forward from here,” he added.
Zobel said they have been asking the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWWS) for a new water source since 2012.
Manila Water president Ferdinand dela Cruz said the second phase of its Cardona Plant would be online by August and would provide an additional 50 million liters per day of supply.
“We have had this problem, we’re dealing with it, we have to get through it and come out a stronger company at the end,” Zobel said.
As of Friday, Manila Water has reached supply availability of 99 percent for at least 8 hours at the ground floor level for its consumers, Zobel said.
Manila Water’s supply woes, traced to increased demand, depleted supply and delays in its infrastructure projects, had caused a water shortage in its concession area in March. (ABS-CBN News)
