CAGAYAN de Oro City Hall will be involved in pushing a public private partnership (PPP) between the Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD) and its contracted bulk water supplier, a top City Hall official said.

During the program ‘Ang Inyong Alagad Mayor Klarex Uy,’ Mayor Rolando Uy’s chief of staff Sheila Lumbatan said the PPP arrangement came after Uy met with COWD representatives and Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water Inc. (Cobi) officials on Thursday to reiterate his appeal to Cobi not to cut its supply to COWD.

“An agreement was reached between the COWD and Cobi during the meeting presided by Mayor Klarex for the two to enter into a PPP since this arrangement is seen as the solution (to COWD’s problem. They will start work on this in September this year,” Lumbatan said in Visayan.

The water district reportedly owes Cobi about P437 million in collectibles.

JOINT VENTURE TALKS. Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy’s chief of staff Sheila Lumbatan says talks for a potential Public-Private Partnership arrangement between Cagayan de Oro Water District and Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water, Inc. will start in September this year. CIO photo grab

However, Lumbatan said it was clarified during the meeting at the mayor’s office that COWD is slowly paying its bills by installment.

“What happened is that during the Covid-19 pandemic, the bills (kept piling up). Under their contract with COWD, Cobi is set to raise their water rates every three years,” Lumbatan said in Visayan.

She said the COWD initiated legal remedies in order to resolve their dispute with Cobi.

“Still there had been proposals for a joint venture (between COWD and Cobi) but these were shelved because there were new guidelines for PPP. That plus the change in management and the pandemic (delayed the negotiations),” Lumbatan said.

Once PPP talks get underway in September, Lumbatan said they hope the joint venture would address COWD’s water supply problems such as its aging water pipeline distribution system.

“In the meantime, the public can be assured that Cobi’s supply to the city won’t be cut off and COWD will continue supplying water to the city’s households,” she said in Visayan.

She said they hope the meeting will expedite the PPP process between COWD and Cobi.

“Actually the city government will be very much involved in processing this PPP. And Mayor Klarex offered to send his legal counsel or he will go to meet (with Metro Pacific, Cobi’s owners) to expedite the PPP process. He promised to be on top of this venture with Metro Pacific,” Lumbatan said in Visayan. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)