THE Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Abejo Builders Corp. for the latter to supply cheaper bulk water from Consolacion town.

MCWD General Manager Armando Paredes said Abejo Builders is presently supplying 5,000 cubic meters of water daily in Talisay City at P18 per cubic meter.

This time, Abejo Builders will supply 7,000 cubic meters of water daily from the Municipality of Consolacion and at a cheaper price of P14.08 per cubic meter, a price which is advantageous to MCWD and the consumers.

Paredes said the 7,000 cubic meters of water to be supplied by Abejo Builders will be injected to the MCWD pipeline in Barangay Cansaga, Consolacion and will be distributed probably to the consumers in Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City and Talamban, Cebu City.

Gavino Abejo Jr., the executive vice president and chief operations officer of Abejo Builders, said they are given by MCWD six months to construct and install the six wells that can supply 7,000 cubic meters of water per day.

Abejo, a graduate of management information system in Northwood University in Florida, USA, said they aim to complete the project in four months.

Required

MCWD Chairman Juan Saul Montecillo said that as required in a public bidding, a statement of commitment from the Municipality of Consolacion was submitted.

But Motencillo said a separate MOA shall be entered into between Abejo Builders and the Consolacion Municipal Government as proof that the local government is supporting the water supply project as stated in yesterday’s MOA.

“It was a successful bidding in the sense that Abejo Builders gave us the price which is quite attractive and even less than our budget estimate of P17 per cubic meter after they offered P14.08 per cubic meter,” Paredes said.

Paredes said another advantage for MCWD and water consumers is that under the contract, Abejo Builders will supply 7,000 cubic meters of water daily at the price fixed within the 10-year period.

He said it will not be subjected to escalation except on extra-ordinary circumstances, in which case, the raise will be subject to approval by the National Economic and Development Authority.

When asked why Abejo Builders is able to offer cheaper water, Paredes said the firm has enough experience already in developing ground water sources especially that it has been supplying 5,000 cubic meters of water to MCWD in Talisay City since 2004.

The others who witnessed the MOA signing were Sabiniano Villamor and Dacs Vargas of Wealth Bank, Jose Elmer Bonusan and Vesmindo Santiago of MCWD, engineer Allen Marcojos, engineer Edwin Caluya and Gerry Abejo of Abejo Builders. (EOB) - Sun.Star Cebu