West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) is replacing over 22 kilometers of old and undersized pipes in Pasay City to better accommodate the supply requirement of the area’s population, which has already increased beyond the distribution system’s current capacity.
The Php362-million pipe replacement project will cover 29 barangays in the areas of Malibay, Maricaban, Pildera 2, and Sun Valley in Pasay. It involves the replacement of existing small-diameter water pipelines (50 to 75 millimeters only) with pipes of bigger diameter ranging from 100mm to 300mm.
The existing pipes in these 29 barangays were installed some 35 years ago—even before the privatization of MWSS operations. Hence, the pipe sizes are no longer enough to accommodate the volume of water that the area currently needs, given the growth in their population over the years.
Besides improving water pressure and availability for almost 38,000 customers in Pasay, the pipe replacement project will enable Maynilad to recover an estimated 7 MLD (million liters per day) of water that is lost through leaks in the aging distribution system.
This pipe replacement project is targeted for completion in 2024. “Upgrading the pipe network in Pasay is essential to improving service levels for the now-bigger population in the area. We are working closely with the Pasay local government and the barangays so we can minimize the impact on traffic of this project,” said Maynilad Chief Operating Officer Randolph T. Estrellado.
Maynilad inherited the older portion of the MWSS distribution system in 1997, and has been investing non-stop for the rehabilitation of the old water infrastructure to improve water pressure and availability, as well as reduce losses in the system. For 2023 to 2027, the company has allotted Php10 billion to replace old pipelines in various portions of its concession area.
Maynilad is the largest private water concessionaire in the Philippines in terms of customer base. It is the concessionaire of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for the West Zone of the Greater Manila Area, which is composed of the cities of Manila (certain portions), Quezon City (certain portions), Makati (west of South Super Highway), Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon all in Metro Manila; the cities of Cavite, Bacoor and Imus, and the towns of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario, all in Cavite Province.
