Manila Water President and CEO Ferdinand Dela Cruz and Manila Water Asia Pacific President and CEO Virgilio Rivera, Jr. paid a courtesy call on the Board of Management of Saigon Water Corporation (SAWACO) in May at the SAWACO office in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

SAWACO is the state-owned water utility company that supplies and distributes water to the entire Ho Chi Minh City. It functions similarly to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System prior to its 1997 privatization.

SAWACO currently has a supply of 2.4 million cubic meters per day and a billed volume of 1.8 million cubic meters per day, providing water to around 10 million people in Vietnam’s most populated city. Developing its aging network and lowering non-revenue water are two of SAWACO’s biggest challenges as the company is tasked to implement measures and capitalize projects on their own. The company plans to speed up its network development, ambitiously finishing it five to six years earlier than the original finish date of 2025.

MWAP has extended its assistance to SAWACO through a Cooperation Program to share best practices and experiences on Asset Management, Network Operations Management, Demand-Based Network Management, Water Supply Master Planning, and Climate Change. The Cooperation Program will happen over a period of six months to one year and will commence after the signing of the agreement by August 2017. The Cooperation Program between the two companies is set to be MWAP’s step to further improve its relationship with SAWACO.

SAWACO is one of the many companies set for equitization or privatization by the Vietnam government between year 2017 to 2020.