MindanaoToday.com | No water supply crisis, Pueblo de Oro assures
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Homeowners and occupants of residential and mixed-use structures within the 360-hectare uptown area in the southwestern side of this city that Pueblo de Oro Development Corporation (PODC) has transformed into a vibrant township have not experienced water supply crisis in almost three decades.
Unlike most of the 190,000 households who rely on the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) for water supply, faucets of over 4,000 households in PODC-developed 20 housing projects do not run dry, even if COWD’s main bulk water contractor cuts off the water pipeline due to a disputed over P400-million debt.
There have been instances when hundreds of residents would queue for hours, with pails and water containers, in designated areas to avail of the water rationing from firetrucks and water tankers, when COWD and its contractor Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water Incorporated (COBI) failed to restore water supply within 24 hours. But this never happened inside the PODC township area.
Engineer Chrysler Acebu, PODC vice president and general manager, said they make sure there is enough water supply in all the areas they transformed into a township for high-end, open-market, and socialized housing projects by tapping ground water sources.
As conceptualized, a township encompasses a comprehensive concept of a planned community that includes residential, commercial, and recreational components within a specific area.
PODC has recently acquired 40 hectares more of adjacent land and its development is in progress. The township covers portions of Carmen, Canitoan, and Lumbia barangays—all situated on the upland southwestern side of the city.
Acebu said they have been operating six deep wells—dugged to about 200 to 500 feet down—that extract water from the aquifer and supply this to thousands of residents and occupants of the business park in the township, including the Pueblo de Oro Golf and Country Club.
PODC, he said, had complied with the standards and requirements of the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) in the extraction of water from ground sources, as well as in the formulating the water tariff rates that vary in terms of use, volume, and locations.
Speaking in a Meet the Press forum at SM Downtown Premier on Wednesday, July 3, he said their water tariff rates, as approved by the NWRB, range from P18 to P21 per cubic meter of water. These rates, he said, are not far off with COWD’s, and that these ensure the operation and maintenance of a water supply system is sustainable.
Acebu however disclosed that PODC has been keeping in mind the prospect of tapping surface water sources, knowing that in the past decade or so other developers have put up deep wells too in the uptown area.
Among the PODC completed housing projects are Philamlife Village, Morning Mist Village, Vista Verde Village, Golden Glow, Golden Glow North, Golden Glow North 2, Hillsborough Pointe, The Courtyards, Forest View Homes, Familia Apartments, San Agustin Valley Homes, Regatta Square, Westwoods, and Masterson Mile.
Registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 13, 1995, the PODC is a member of the Investment and Capital Corporation of the Philippines (ICCP) Group. (MT)
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