“Maynilad Water Services Inc. shares the common goal of providing sustainable water solutions for stakeholders.
Together with MWSS, Maynilad strives to meet this goal for our over 9 million customers in the West Zone of Metro Manila.
Managing the West concession has been a challenge. From the period 1997 to 2006, Maynilad was in bad shape. Its previous private owners could not sustain operations when it suffered huge losses following the 1998 Asian financial crisis.
So when the concession was re-privatized in 2007, the new Maynilad owners faced the seemingly impossible task of reviving a financially crippled company.
That was 10 years ago. Since then, Maynilad was able to swiftly get out of rehabilitation and implement a massive Capex Program of P65.2-billion or approximately $1.5 billion at historical exchange rates.
I am proud to say that because of our efforts our service and efficiency levels have dramatically improved.
Our customer base grew by 94 percent from about 678,000 in 2006 to over 1.3 million in 2016, covering 94 percent of our service area.
From 32 percent, our customers with 24-hour water supply increased to 98 percent. Those who receive their supply at an average pressure of 7 psi also increased from 45 percent to 100 percent.
We have also brought down our average NRW level from 68 percent in 2006 to 29.9 percent by the end of last year.
In line with the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals, we also work to ensure water access for urban poor communities. One such program is “Samahang Tubig Maynilad,” which organizes urban poor communities into a cooperative that can manage and earn from their own bulk water system. In these poor communities, access to water became our entry point to promote water conservation, sanitation, and even self-sufficiency.
It was not easy getting to where Maynilad is now. What helped was the continued faith of the MWSS in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP), despite the failure of its initial privatization.
What also helped was our people—the dedicated men and women of Maynilad who persisted through our turbulent corporate history and proved their strong dedication to public service.
On our 11th year of operation, we want to focus on growing our business further, while fulfilling our commitments to our stakeholders.
We are setting our sights on expanding to other areas of the Philippines. There are currently abou 15 million Filipinos who are still without water access. We want to replicate our success in other areas so that more people can enjoy improved water supply and sanitation.
Our partnership with the MWSS has benefitted millions of Filipinos. Our services have spurred economic activity, while our investments have generated thousands of jobs.
More than a business, we see Maynilad as a vehicle for nation-building. Because by partnering with government, we can use our resources to uplift the lives of our countrymen.”