Case Study

| MCWD unhappy with supplier: Water crisis looms in Mactan Island? By Wenna A. Berondo (The Freeman) Updated July 16, 2008 12:00 AM Comments (0) View comments | |

Is another water crisis looming in Mactan Island? This as the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) expressed no interest to renew its contract with Mactan Rock Industries Inc., its major water supplier in the island. Recently, the water district announced the bidding for proposed bulk water supply for Mactan Island to supply the water district with potable water at a minimum volume of 5,000 cubic meters of water a day. Engr. Armando Paredes, MCWD general manager, confirmed yesterday that they may no longer renew their contract, which would expire early January next year, with Mactan Rock. MCWD entered into a 10-year contract with Mactan Rock in 1999 for the supply of 5,000 cubic meters of water a day. Paredes said the reason for the decision is that “the original terms of the contract are not good for the water district.” “If we renew medyo taas-taas nga period kay 10 years gud (ang contract). And if we renew, it may mean we will have the same contract, which has some imperfections,” Paredes told The Freeman. He cited one provision of the contract that they find disadvantageous to MCWD is the shortage penalties. He explained that under their contract, MCWD can impose penalty of P9 for every cubic meter of water that Mactan Rock fell short of the contracted volume. According to him, if there are days that Mactan Rock delivers low volume of water, they could not impose fine as long as the 5,000 cubic meters a month average volume is met by the supplier. Paredes said they bid for a new supply because they want to have another contract where penalty can be imposed on daily basis. “We want to make the production delivery more uniform. We want our daily supply to be reliable.” But Paredes said Mactan Rock is still welcome to join the bidding. In its website, MCWD announced the bidding for the bulk...