• CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
A resolution requesting the Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA) through its Board of Directors (BOD), to terminate the joint venture agreement (JVA) between BACIWA and Primewater Infrastructure Corporation for the material breach committed in the JVA, and secure its operational accountability to the consuming public, was approved by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod Wednesday.
Authored by Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr., the resolution said that on November 1, 2020, the Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA) and PrimeWater Infrastructure Corporation (PrimeWater) entered into a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) for the management of the water supply system of BACIWA for a 25 year contract.
PrimeWater violated Section 5.1.2 of the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) to provide continuous, uninterrupted water supply by the end of the second year, November 2022. As of April 2026, many areas are still experiencing intermittent water service or no water supply at all, it said.
Five years after signing the agreement, PrimeWater failed to fulfill its commitment to invest P6.8 billion worth of projects for Bacolod’s water system. At present, no tangible investments have been made in effective water quality systems to meet their obligations, the resolution said.
PrimeWater failed to reduce non-renewable water (NRW), which currently stands at 45 percent, or nearly half of the total treated water in the distribution system; as a result, consumer-households are effectively paying for half of the entire water supply produced by PrimeWater, which they did not actively consume.
There are about 900 reported leaks in the water distribution system that remain unaddressed and unanswered, resulting not only in water loss but also contamination, directly affecting water quality and public health.
PrimeWater is continuously siphoning the collection of BACIWA, which has an average monthly collection of P60 million or P720 million annual gross and a net income of P80 to P100 million annually without corresponding investment that would improve services.
There is an urgent need to protect BACIWA’s structural-infrastructural assets estimated at P695 million, which were all turned over to PrimeWater under the JVA.
With such material breaches, BACIWA may terminate the contract, end the 25-year JVA early, sue PrimeWater for damages, and take the 6 percent of the performance bond as stated under Section 5.1.9 for service obligation failures.*
