US firm to put up water desalination projects in BARMM

COTABATO CITY – A major government project is expected to improve sources of drinking water for people in several island towns of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

This, after the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), has started engaging the services of an American firm for its municipal water projects in island towns where potable water is scarce.

Minister Naguib Sinarimbo of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) – BARMM said Friday his office has forged a contract with Water Equipment Technologies (WET) Co., Inc. for the delivery and operationalization of desalination machines and apparatus in three Sulu municipalities.

WET is a subsidiary company of the Dallas, Texas-based Water Equipment Technologies founded in 1975.

“We signed the contracts for the provision, delivery, and installation of 10 units of desalination machines for several island municipalities in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. The machines will convert seawater into potable drinking water for these island municipalities which for generations have been deprived of potable water because no amount of drilling would yield potable water as it is surrounded by the Sulu sea,” Sinarimbo added.
The project, he said, will benefit such municipalities as Pangutaran, Pandami, Panglima Tahil, and soon with other towns.

He said the water project for waterless municipalities is funded by the BARMM government and implemented by the MILG office.

Sinarimbo said under one of three contracts, WET will install desalination facilities for PHP5,909,000 with a processing capacity of 30,000 liters per day of saltwater converted into water for domestic use and human consumption in Hadji Panglima Tahil, Sulu.

Donna Faizo, WET representative and contract signatory, said her company has been bringing services of water projects installations, operations, and maintenance for the past 25 years in various areas in the country.

She cited projects in Davao City, Batangas, and Laguna.

Faizo said saltwater turns 99.99 percent desalinized making it potable water fit for human consumption.

Sinarimbo said other BARMM towns that are without potable water are in the pipeline for the implementation of similar projects. (PNA)

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