Mayor Maria Isabel Climaco-Salazar has asked the Zamboanga City Water District (ZCWD) to forgo its proposed water rate increase.
“We have to look into the books of the ZCWD and utilize existing funds from loans before we increase the rates. We have to provide better services to them (concessionaires), it’s just as simple as that.” Climaco-Salazar said.
She said she sill be looking at the possibility of asking the ZCWD to look for other ways to address the firm’s funding need for development projects, instead.
The mayor also shared the idea of digitalizing the ZCWD to solve the problem of non-revenue water due to leakages, citing, for example, the command center of the city government that allows the police to prevent crime incidents without necessarily posting a policeman at the crime scene.
“Utilizing digital technology will help us curve the system’s loss without necessarily increasing the cost of water”, Climaco-Salazar said.
The management of ZCWD on their part plans to have scheduled for another meeting with the City Mayor “to clarify matters pertaining to the rate increase”.
“We see the opposition as an opportunity to further explain to the public the necessity of water rates adjustments,” Engr. Marli P. Acosta-De Fiesta, head of the ZCWD Engineering and Construction Department.