CoA orders Mapandan Water District to pay loans, halt tariff rate hike��

STATE AUDITORS ordered the Mapandan Water District (MAWADI) in Pangasinan to settle its outstanding loan balance to a government agency as well as include a portion of its lot in its transfer certificates of title.����

In a report dated April 13, the Commission on Audit (CoA) said MAWADI “did not settle its outstanding loan balance with the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) of P24.6 million as of Dec. 31, 2022.”������

CoA recommended that the management pay all its loan obligations with the LWUA to “avoid legal actions against the District.”��

The state-owned MAWADI entered into a joint venture with private company PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp. in 2019, with the aim of improving and expanding water and septage services in Mapandan’s 15 villages.������

PrimeWater imposed a water rate increase, which state auditors said did not go through public consultations and was “not supported with the computation of the recoverable and prudent costs, thus, prejudicial to the interest of the public.”������

CoA recommended that MAWADI advise PrimeWater “to immediately stop” implementing the higher rates pending review and approval by LWUA.����

CoA also said that “four parcels of lot of the District costing P3.76 million were not covered by Transfer Certificates of Title,” making the “absolute ownership and valuation of the properties not ascertained, posing risks of claims by other parties.”����

“The audit team has discussed the observations and recommendations with the management” on Feb. 1 “and that the comments incorporated in the report were appropriate,” CoA said.����

MAWADI’s assets amounted to P86.63 million in 2022 but has unsettled disallowances of P522,348.59. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz