Announcement of World Bank and IDA Support Project to Improve Water Supply in the Philippines on May 31, 1979

.FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE •World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.• Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE NO. 79/95 May 31, 1979 IDA NEWS RELEASE NO. 79/85 WORLD BANK AND IDA SUPPORT PROJECT TO lMPROVE·WATtR·SUPPLY· lN.THE'PKlllPPLNES The World Bank and its soft-loan affiliate, the International Development Association (IDA), have approved a total of $38 million--$16 million from the Bank and $22 million from IDA--to help improve the supply of safe water in provincial cities in the Philippines. The Second Provincial Cities Water Supply Project will continue the work of the first project, to speedily improve the water suppiy in a large number of provincial cities. It will provide for water supply construction and up- grading in about 50 cities and 1,000 rural communities, benefitting about 1 million urban and 580,000 rural dwellers. Better water supply is expected to reduce the incidence of water-borne disease and alleviate the possibility of epidemics . • The project will also providi~ technical assistance for project preparation, detailed designs, supervision of ~onstruction, and preparation of the next stage of the project. In addition, a pilot sanitation study will be undertaken for about eight rural communities. Operational, engineering and financial staff will be trained under the project. The local water districts and the Philippines government are providing $5.7 million and $20.3 million, respectively. The Bank loan is for 20 years, including 5 years of grace, at 7.9% interest. The IDA credit has a term of 50 years, including 10 years of grace. It carries no interest, but bears a ser- vice charge of 3/4 of 1% per annum to cover administrative costs. • NOTE: Money figures are expressed in U.S. dollar equivalents . FORM NO. 1121 (5-76) T EC HNI CAL DA T A • PROJECT: Second Provincial Cities Water Supply COUNTRY: Republic of the Philippines TOTAL COST: $64 mi 11 ion BANK FINANCING: $16 mill ion, for a term of 20 years, including 5 years of grace, with interest at 7.9% per annum. IDA FINANCING: $22 million, standard IDA terms OTHER FINANCING: Government of the Philippines, $20.3 million Water Districts, $5.7 mill ion IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATION: Local Water Utilities Administration Cable Address: 7th Floor, NIA Building Local Water Epifanio de los Santos Avenue Quezon City Quezon City, Philippines PROJECT DESCRIPTION: It includes: l) water supply construction in about 50 provincial cities; 2) technical assistance for project preparatioA, detailed designs and supervision of construction; 3) technical assist- ance for preparation of the next stage of the other project; 4) training of Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) and Water District (WO) staff, and the pro- vision of needed equipment; and 5) vehicles and equipment for WDs. Also included • are water supply construction in some l ,000 rural communities, and pilot sanitation studies and subprojects for about eight rural communities. PROCUREMENT: Procurement of all equipment and vicil works required for each water supply subproject, except for that in the city of lloilo (average cost below $1 million for each Water District) will be packaged by LWUA !nto single contracts and will be awarded through competitive bidding adver- tised locally. Almost all contracts are expected to be won by local firms, though bids will be accepted from foreign contractors. Equipment and civil works for the lloilo subproject (the largest, with an estimated cost of $9 million) will also be packaged into a single contract and awarded through international competitive bidding (ICB). For the rural water supply projects, all equipment will be obtained by the Ministry of Public Works, Transportation, and Communication (MPWTC) through bulk procurement on the basis of ICB. Local manufacturers will receive a 15% preference rate of the c. i.f. price of imported goods or the customs duty, whichever is lower. Except when~ vol unt:a ry 1abor is offered, MPWTC wi 11 fo 11 ow local procurement proce- dures for minor civil works. Both LWUA and MPWTC will follow local procurement pro- cedures for the pilot rural sanitation projects. Goods costing under $15,000 for the public educatio1, program, training, carrying out public hearings, and for urgently required off-the-shelf items for project completion will be procured through local shopping, provided that the cost of such items does not exceed $100,000 total fer the LWUA component and $20,000 for the rural water supply and sanitation components. CONSULTANTS: Consultant services will be provided for supervision of drilling, review of feasibility studies, praparation of detailed design and supervision of construction. ECONOMlC RATE OF RETURN: ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: For the three sample cities of Guagua, Orani and San Jose, rates of return are estimated at 7.4%, 6.6%, and 9.8%, respectively. 1985 • 0