AYALA-LED Manila Water is about to begin the P5.3-billion Novaliches-Balara Aqueduct 4 (NBAQ4) project in a formal signing activity recently.
One of the biggest water-supply infrastructure projects of the company, NBAQ4 will connect the area, one of Quezon City’s most heavily populated and commercial area from La Mesa Reservoir to the Balara Treatment Plants (BTP) 1 and 2.
“This will greatly improve the security and ‘reliability’ of the system for raw water transmission,” said Ferdinand de la Cruz, president and CEO of Manila Water in a statement.
The project is expected to be finished by 2021.
The company recently set up water for the 3,000 residents of a resettlement area in Taytay, Rizal, with lower rates.
The project, in partnership with the government, is connecting water to individual households, said Terry Ridon, chairman of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor.
“Urban-poor communities in Taytay, Rizal, will have individual water connections from Manila Water and can now escape the recurring burden of unjust, expensive water rates from various people’s organizations,” Ridon added.
Ridon said the project, in partnership with Manila Water, will reduce water rates from P50 per cubic meter to about P13 to P15 per cubic meter, translating to almost P400 in monthly savings for other basic needs.
With 19,000 families, Lupang Arenda is one of the largest informal settlements in the country, bigger than Payatas in Quezon City, Ridon said.