2 towns in Eastern Samar complete Water Development Project

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
August 8, 2006

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  – Two water supply projects in Region 8 are among the 31 countryside water supply projects which have been completed by the Local Water Utilities Administration as of June this year.

This means that more households will now have the access to safe and potable water in the municipalities of Guiuan and Taft, both in the province of Eastern Samar. The Guiuan project costs P18.9 million while the Taft water project costs P9.9 million.

Guiuan Mayor Analiza Kwan when interviewed by PIA confirmed the report saying that the LWUA took over the management of the Guiuan Water District on February 1, 2006 and the water service was started on March 10 with no less than LWUA Manager Lorenzo Jamora and Congressman Libanan inaugurating the project.

Mayor Kwan is all praises for the good management of the project by LWUA, saying that so far more than 500 households have already availed of the safe and potable water. Right now, the expansion project being done will benefit 200 more households, Mayor Kwan quipped.

Mayor Kwan added that she is hoping that the water system which is badly needed at Calicoan Island will also be implemented as it is a priority need if the tourism industry in that place will really be pushed.

LWUA has been intensifying its water supply program to cover small, developing hinterland communities in support of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s socio-economic development and peace initiatives. Support for rebel or insurgency movements waned in communities that have been given access to potable water and better education, the recent Human Development Indicator study showed.

The completed water projects were undertaken with financial assistance from Asian Development Bank, the Kreditanstalt fur Weiderrafbau and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

Twenty-one more water supply projects are being completed by the LWUA at a combined cost of P1 billion. Included among these projects is the construction of new water facilities for the town of Laoang in Northern Samar.