Baciwa sets public hearing on water rate hike
BACOLOD CITY -- Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) General Manager Atty. Julie Anne Carbon said a public hearing on the proposed water rate increase will be held on June 9, 2009, 2 p.m. at the Negros Occidental Multi-Purpose gym.
The public hearing aims to enlighten the consumers on what's the purpose of the increase, how much and its benefits.
Baciwa has proposed a 30% increase effective July 15, 2009; 15% increase by 2010; 10% by 2011; 10% by 2014; 5% by 2015 and 10% by 2016.
She said that the increases are not that high if converted into pesos.
The 10 cubic meters consumption of water currently costs P173. This will increase to P225 once the 30% increase takes effect on July 15 this year as targeted.
The minimum rate of P173 will be made P259 by January of 2010; P285 by Jan. 2011; P313.50 by Jan. 2014; P329 by 2015 and P362 by 2016.
She said Baciwa has not increased its rates for the past three years.
Baciwa is self-generating and can never be a profit-oriented utility firm.
As the population and economy grow, the demand for utility's services and for the firm to expand and improve its delivery capabilities also go with it.
Baciwa covers only 45% of the total population of Bacolod City. There are also existing consumers that are affected with the uneven distribution of water supply, she said.
Others fully enjoy a 24/7 water supply but there are also consumers that can only have access to water from 4 - 7 hours or less than that.
Thus, Baciwa wanted to improve its services to the existing consumers and at the same time expand by 5,000 new water connections each year.
She further said that Baciwa cash reserves are now in critical level as savings were spent on works deleted from the contract of Green Asia Construction and Development Corp. such as the pipelaying works, electrical and electro-mechanical facilities of three production wells and in district metering program to reduce the non-revenue water. It needs to rebuild its cash reserves for contingencies and emergencies.
She also compared that if the 10 cubic meters of Baciwa water costs P225, the bottled water of the same volume will cost more or less P100,000.
Meanwhile, the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod City passed a resolution requesting the Local Water Utilities Administration to reduce its interest rates from 12.5% to 7% - 9%.