Manila Water Company: Manila Water adjudged best-managed company by Asiamoney

Manila Water adjudged best-managed company by Asiamoney

Posted: Friday February 29, 2008

Manila Water was recently awarded the best managed company in the Philippines under the small capitalization category by the prestigious Asiamoney Magazine.

Photo caption: Cited for efficient operations and management under a heavily regulated environment, Business Group Director Rene D. Almendras receives the award from Asiamoney editor Richard Morrow, as Manila Water was adjudged the best managed company in the small cap category.

Yearly, Asiamoney, composed of renowned analysts and fund managers, comes out with its opinion on corporations which stood out for their strategic vision and development, qualities that separate the best companies from the rest in 2007.

Manila Water has bagged the award for the second time, the first one in 2005 for the same category. Analysts have cited Manila Water for its efficient operations and management considering the heavily regulated environment it operates in.

Before the end of 2007, Manila Water got the approval of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System Regulatory office (MWSS RO) for its P187-billion capital investment program for the next 15 years beginning 2008, which will redound to service reliability and expansion for its 5.3 million customers in the East Zone of Metro Manila and parts of the Rizal Province.

For the past ten years, Manila Water has significantly increased the volume of water delivered to its customers from 440 million liters per day (MLD) to 1040 MLD. With a capital investment of nearly P28 billion, it has greatly reduced its system losses from 63% in 1997 to about 25% in 2007, with water recovered brought to an additional 2 million residents in the east concession area who now also enjoy 24-hour water supply.

“Their accomplishment is really bringing water to areas that were not served before where people had to buy bottled water’” confirms one analyst.

Currently, Manila Water is now expanding its sewerage and sanitation coverage since 99% of their central distribution system is already with water. Expansion programs are now geared towards the east of Metro Manila specifically the province of Rizal.

Customers in the East Zone get full value of their payments with the continuous water supply in their taps. Besides efficient water service, Manila Water has also intensified its free scheduled desludging for its customers, a service it offers to clean and empty septic tanks so that wastewater does not get directly discharged to waterways that may add up to the already-polluted state of our river systems. Clearly, this is another benefit customers receive that will promote their health and sanitation.

Manila Water Business Group Director Rene Almendras who received the award, stresses, “we always try to find ways of doing things efficiently because we want our customers to experience the value of what they pay to us.” We are currently looking for new water sources to ensure future water supply so that our customers will continue to enjoy improved level of service year after year,” Almendras adds.