Home 
CEBU CITY, Philippines - With Cebu City officials expecting development in the South Roads Properties (SRP) to start next year, they have yet to determine which company would provide the property's water supply.
Cebu City Planning and Development Officer Paul Villarete said the two bidders, Abejo Builders Corp. and Pilipinas Water, have yet to disclose where they will source their water.
?The biggest concern is the source. Remember that the source is still owned by the Filipino people. Do they have water rights? The problem of the two is that I think they are assuming that the SRP is not part of the project area of the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD),? he told Cebu Daily News.
He said the two could either ask MCWD which has water rights for the entire city or they will have to source their water from outside the city.
Negotiations with the Cebu Investment Promotion Center (CIPC) for the SRP's water supply are ongoing amid the Cebu City government's publication for prospective bidders interested to challenge the proposal of Filinvest Land Inc. for a portion of the reclamation site.
Cebu City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said power and water supply for the SRP will have to be resolved in the marketing level because any development could not start without these utilities.
Pilipinas Water proposed a joint venture scheme with Cebu City. While Abejo proposed to provide an outright water supply.
SRP Chief Operations Officer Nagiel Bañacia said the city government is inclined to favor a joint venture scheme for the utilities in the SRP.
Bañacia said Pilipinas Water already submitted their documents to Fernandez last week which he turned over to CIPC.
The availability of water and power utilities is part of the city's commitment to any investor in the SRP.
Villarete said Abejo's proposal consists of drilling the SRP grounds for salt water and processing it by means of desalination.
He said this is detrimental for Cebu City since this means that the city will have to pay for their own water.
He said any proposal from bidders will have to incorporate the SRP's existing water facilities like the desalination plant and the 26 deep wells.
However if the private company will decide to use any water resource within the SRP, it ?should not go beyond the sustainable yield of the aquifer,? Villarete said.
?There is a limit to what you can extract. Otherwise if you extract more than that it will lower the aquifer,? Villarete explained.
Fernandez said that if there are no challengers to Filinvest's proposal, the real estate developer can start working on a portion of the SRP six months after securing all the permits and other requirements from the Cebu City government.
The invitation to bid was published in local dailies on Monday.
