Leyte: The Leyte Metropolitan Water District (LMWD) has announced its intention to terminate its joint venture agreement with PrimeWater Infrastructure Corporation (PrimeWater) due to the company's failure to improve water supply in the city and seven nearby towns in Leyte province. LMWD general manager Ronnie Cornico stated that the LMWD board decided during a meeting on May 5 to sign a position paper to revoke the 25-year agreement with the Villar-owned company.
According to Philippines News Agency, Cornico explained that PrimeWater has not fulfilled its promises after five years, leading to numerous complaints about water service disruptions. This action was prompted by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s order for an investigation into these issues. LMWD identified several areas of unsatisfactory performance by PrimeWater, including failure to meet the target of 58,000 water service connections, inability to control system losses, persistent low water pressure, failure to deliver the target volume of water, slow response to pipe leakages, and delayed payments to suppliers.
Cornico noted that over the past five years, PrimeWater has only achieved 54,809 connections out of the targeted 58,000, with non-revenue water increasing to 34 percent, exceeding the 30 percent tolerable loss limit. The current water pressure remains at two PSI (pounds per square inch), significantly below the ideal of 10 PSI.
A local resident, Arlinda Toribio, a 59-year-old food vendor, shared her frustrations, stating that despite paying PHP1,300 monthly for her water bill, the service is often disrupted during the day, forcing her to collect water at night for her business needs. The low pressure is largely attributed to unrepaired leaks in pipes and an inadequate water supply, with PrimeWater delivering only 63 million cubic meters of water daily out of the promised 88 million cubic meters.
Cornico confirmed that the results of their detailed review have been sent to PrimeWater and are currently awaiting an update from the Local Water Utilities Authority (LWUA). The LWUA is a government institution responsible for promoting, developing, and financing local water utilities in provincial cities and towns outside Metro Manila.
The agreement between LMWD and PrimeWater, signed in 2019, involved a commitment from the Villar-owned company to invest PHP6 billion to improve water supply services in Tacloban City and the towns of Dagami, Tolosa, Tanauan, Palo, Tabon-Tabon, Sta. Fe, and Pastrana. The call for an investigation by President Marcos followed appeals from Bulacan officials for Congress to examine PrimeWater's poor service. As of 2021, PrimeWater controls 100 water districts in the Philippines. By law, water districts cannot be sold to private corporations, which is why PrimeWater operates under joint venture agreements.
