Ben Madilynn
THE Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) will soon be able to supply water to over 5,000 homes in the mountain barangays of Cebu City.
Cebu City officials, led by Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia, attended the groundbreaking ceremonies of the MCWD expansion project on Monday, Sept. 2, 2024, in Barangays Guba and Agsungot.
In a press conference after the ceremony, Garcia said he was happy that mountain residents could now have access to MCWD water after a long time.
“Their excavation permit is very important since it allows them to dig underground and lay down their pipes,” said Garcia in Cebuano.
“We’ll wait 200 days is what they said. So the next time we go back there, it will be a ceremony of making the water flow,” Garcia added, referring to the contractor’s promise to complete the project within 200 calendar days.
MCWD chairman Jose Daluz said the water supply will come from the dam in Barangay Lusaran.
“For 50 years of planning on how to provide water to the mountain areas, finally, it has come today,” said Daluz of the project to be undertaken by R. Abalos Construction.
Daluz said there will be more groundbreaking ceremonies in Cebu City’s other mountain barangays, namely: Budlaan, Pulangbato, Cambinocot, Binaliw, Pit-os, and Mabini.
Guba Barangay Captain Orlan Herrera told reporters that a steady supply of water is very important to the village given that it is home to a hospital, church and a college.
Herrera said a total of 1,800 households will benefit from the MCWD project.
Guba residents spend around Probe launched to check violations P120 to P200 per barrel of water from a private supplier.
Meanwhile, Agsungot Barangay Captain Pedro Damaolao described the project as a “dream come true.”
“I have lived in Agsungot for 38 years with no clean drinking water. Our water here is so cloudy and it would take us several days to make it clear,” he said in a speech. (JPS)
