700 Mandaue fire victims get water supply
More than 700 fire victims in Barangay Mantuyong, Mandaue City will get their water supply from the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) before Christmas.
The MCWD, together with the Sustainable and Resilient Pro-poor Water Supply Project Cebu (WatSupCebu), has launched on Monday, December 11, the new water system that will benefit around 150 households that lost their homes to a fire in November last year.
WatSupCebu, which is funded in part by The Netherlands with $8 million (P376 million), is a five-year private-public partnership that is expected to benefit 80,000 people in Metro Cebu.
The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), through its Sustainable Water Fund (FDW), is funding 55 percent or P208 million of the project.
MCWD will contribute more than P112 million, while Vitens Evides International (VEI) will give P38.5 million as counterpart.
French non-government urganization Eau et Vie (E&V) and the Netherlands Red Cross also contributed to the project.
E&V-Tubig Pagasa applied for a water service connection with the MCWD for the fire victims in Mantuyong.
The water bill will be collected on a daily basis, or around P20 per day, so it will be affordable for the beneficiaries.
E&V will also put up fire hydrants and provide firefighting training to the beneficiaries with the help of the French government.
Aside from that, the Netherlands Red Cross and the Philippine National Red Cross will provide disaster preparedness training, while MCWD conduct sanitation and hygiene education for them.
“This is a very comprehensive assistance to communities, which will be replicated in the different areas in Metro Cebu. It aims to empower them and make them independent, improving the quality of these people’s lives,” said MCWD General Manager Jose Eugenio Singson Jr.
Yieldez Veran, 48, one of the residents, was grateful for the Tubig Pagasa in their community.
“Maayo ni kay dili na ta mahasol paghakot og tubig sa layo o mopalit og tubig nga mahal (This is good because we will no longer fetch water from afar or buy expensive water),” said Veran.
The launching was attended by Honorary Consul to the Kingdom of the Nehterlands Gordon Allan Joseph, Singson, Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna and VEI Project Manager Patrick Egan.
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