The Davao City Water District (DCWD) announced that it will be implementing a water rate increase of 60 percent in tranches when approved by the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).
Jovana Duhaylungsod, spokesperson of DCWD, said the 60 percent water rate hike will be implemented in the first tranche by 30 percent then 20 percent in the second, and 10 percent in the last tranche to cushion the financial impact of the increase on its consumers.
“Rest assured na kung naa may decision if we are to implement it the figure is still the same. We asked for a 60 percent hike but we will gonna implement it in tranches to cushion the financial impact to 30, 20, 10 gihapon as to the timeline na when, kung naa nay approval DCWD will announce it prior to the implementation,” she announced on Monday.
In January this year, DCWD submitted documentary requirements to LWUA.
‘We entered the year with a public hearing which is part of the requirements sa LWUA, including the documents that were produced during the public hearing as well as the other documentary requirements. Until now the review is still ongoing so wala pay balita whether it is approved or not. Status quo gihapon ang atong water rate hike sa pagkakaron until such time na we receive the decision LWUA,” Duhaylungsod said.
Currently, the water rate of DCWD is at P137.40 for the first 10 cubic meters (cu.m.) and it will become around P200 or P300 once the rate hike is approved.
Duhaylungsod said even with the increase of 60 percent DCWD is still far from the benchmark of affordability rate, which is among the parameters being looked by LWUA in reviewing DCWD’s hike request.
“The baseline for affordability rate, it should not be more than 5 percent of the average income of the lowest group ug diri sa atoang syudad the average income of the lowest income group is P11,000 per month, 5 percent of that is naa lang sa P500, so even with the increase na 60 percent we are still far from the benchmark of affordability kay naa lang ta sa P200 or P260 to P300 unya kung musulti taa ug affordability rate that would be P500. Barato gihapon kaayo ang atoang singil diri sa Davao City compared to other water districts in the country,” she explained.
DCWD first announced its proposed water rate hike in 2019 aiming to generate funding to make sure that in the next 10 years DCWD can keep up with the infrastructure developments as well as fund its daily operations, improvements, and expansion plans.
“In District 3 there is a tremendous residential development and DCWD would want to be of service and to be available by the time these developments take place. Daghan developers na gusto na ma connect kay DCWD but because of challenges of water supply availability dili pa nato ma-accept. We have learned from that experience and that is the premise of our 10-year development plan, to be ready and available once these developments take place para si developer and all the other commercial or industrial na entities they would not have to worry about water because DCWD is already there. That is the premise of the water rate increase,” Duhaylungsod said.
Duhaylungsod also said the said hike will also help DCWD in achieving its goal of serving additional 20 barangays in Davao City in the next 10 years.
From 182 barangays, DCWD is serving 116 barangays.
“The 116 are not entirely covered by DCWD some of them a portion pa lang sa mga barangays. DCWD is a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) but is not receiving any subsidy from the national or local government. What we used are the water bill payments that we received to fund our operation and expansions,” she said.
The last time DCWD had a water increase was in 2005, which was implemented under a staggered scheme up to 2013.
