Dvorak
December 6th, 2004, 09:15 AM
is it true that water rates @ Bonifacio is very expensive? This could be something homebuyers are not aware of... tsk tsk tsk
Fort's water woes
THE FAST-FOOD stall operators of the new Market!Market! in The Fort are drowning in their own version of killer storm Winnie over their water bills.
For example, a stall owner who used to pay an average of P500 a month for water usage in her previous strip mall stall turned livid when shown a P38,000 monthly bill for her 20-meter stall in the new Ayala market-mall.
Ayala Land inherited the mutiny-inducing rates from the Metro Pacific-Vivendi joint venture that developed the world-class water and sewerage system in the new global city.
Unfortunately, world-class, especially when dollar-denominated, comes with a First World price tag. The Asian currency crisis not only exposed the water venture to devaluation risk, but the projected Fort market base also shrank, resulting in fewer consumers carrying a heavier debt burden.
The good news, according to the grapevine, is that Ayala is now meeting with the restive stallholders to discuss the reduction of their water rates.
But, then again, even if Ayala slashes the rates by half, P19,000 from P500 a month still represents a financial tsunami for a stall that gets by on P55 meals.
(Latebreaker: According to an Ayala Land spokesperson, there are no negotiations with Market!Market! fast-food merchants on any reduction of their water rates. That means the rates, which the spokesperson claim have already gone down "tremendously," would remain.)
Fort's water woes
THE FAST-FOOD stall operators of the new Market!Market! in The Fort are drowning in their own version of killer storm Winnie over their water bills.
For example, a stall owner who used to pay an average of P500 a month for water usage in her previous strip mall stall turned livid when shown a P38,000 monthly bill for her 20-meter stall in the new Ayala market-mall.
Ayala Land inherited the mutiny-inducing rates from the Metro Pacific-Vivendi joint venture that developed the world-class water and sewerage system in the new global city.
Unfortunately, world-class, especially when dollar-denominated, comes with a First World price tag. The Asian currency crisis not only exposed the water venture to devaluation risk, but the projected Fort market base also shrank, resulting in fewer consumers carrying a heavier debt burden.
The good news, according to the grapevine, is that Ayala is now meeting with the restive stallholders to discuss the reduction of their water rates.
But, then again, even if Ayala slashes the rates by half, P19,000 from P500 a month still represents a financial tsunami for a stall that gets by on P55 meals.
(Latebreaker: According to an Ayala Land spokesperson, there are no negotiations with Market!Market! fast-food merchants on any reduction of their water rates. That means the rates, which the spokesperson claim have already gone down "tremendously," would remain.)