THE ASIAN Development Bank (ADB) will provide a $2-million technical assistance grant that will lay the groundwork for projects to upgrade and expand water supply and sanitation systems in Cebu and Davao cities, the bank said in a statement yesterday.
The grant is financed by the government of France and will be administered by ADB, with the Philippines providing $200,000 in counterpart funding.
"Mismatches between supply and demand due to sharply rising populations, environmental pollution and shrinking water sources mean that, without remedial action, Metro Cebu in the Visayas and Davao City in Mindanao could experience a water crisis by 2015, as well as a sanitation crisis," the statement quoted Paulus Van Klaveren, Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist in ADB’s Southeast Asia Department, as saying.
Current water supply in Cebu and Davao, the country’s second and third largest cities, respectively, fall short of their populations’ needs, and the situation is expected to worsen in the coming years as households there increase, the statement said.
Compounding the problem is pollution and illegal tapping of groundwater by households and businesses which threatens to cause land subsidence and salt water intrusion into supply sources.
Sanitation services are also minimal, with sludge from septic tanks often discharged into rivers and dumpsites.
"Unless district water agencies in the two cities aggressively expand their water supply capacity and distribution systems, both urban centers will face significant shortages of drinking water and water quality problems in the near future," said Mr. Van Klaveren.
The technical assistance aims to develop a multi-tranche financing facility to provide phased project funding, as well as assess water supply options and draw up designs for network expansion.
The main project afterwards will include the rehabilitation and expansion of water distribution systems, construction of waste water collection and disposal facilities, and a community sanitation awareness program.
It will also address structural development constraints such as a weak and fragmented regulatory environment, poorly performing utilities, as well as a general lack of public and private investment in the sector.
"The goal is to increase service coverage of continuous water supply from 50% of the population to 80%, and access to hygienic sanitation from 10% of the population to 50% by 2022," Mr. Van Klaveren said.
While the main focus is on Cebu and Davao cities, other major urban centers with similar problems could also be included in the planned project.
The executing agencies for the technical assistance activities are the Metro Cebu Water District and the Davao City Water District, with work scheduled for completion by March 2012, the statement said.
No comments:
Post a Comment