New MWSS administrator unaware of Kaliwa Dam project

MANILA, Philippines — The new administrator of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS)has admitted that he has no personal knowledge of the controversial Kaliwa Dam project, which is expected to help augment water supply in Metro Manila.

Asked whether he supported the project prior to his appointment, MWSS administrator Emmanuel Salamat said he has yet to get the details of the P12.2-billion Kaliwa Dam.

“I have yet to see and subscribe to all the projects. No, I have no idea,” he said.

“But we have to make a lot of collaborative engagements with all stakeholders and affected communities,” Salamat said.

Civil society and non-government organizations have been supporting the call of the Agta-Dumagat-Remontado tribes in Quezon and Rizal who are opposing the Kaliwa Dam project.

The project is said to displace the indigenous communities, threaten the already endangered flaura and fauna in the Sierra Madre mountain range, and compromise the farms and food sources of thousands of families in the areas.

The Kaliwa Dam project has yet to move forward following the lack of environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and another permit from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

Several groups are urging the DENR to withhold the issuance of the ECC and the NCIP to ensure that meaningful and genuine processes of securing the free, prior and informed consent of the affected indigenous communities are implemented.

MWSS chairman Reynaldo Velasco assured that the government would not start the project unless all requirements are completed.

“These are all ongoing, simultaneous with the efforts of the bidder to clear the design. So hopefully before the design is approved by the MWSS Board, the requirements are done,” Velasco said.

“We will not start the project unless we comply with everything because that is required by the law. We will not violate any laws or any rights of anybody before we implement,” he said.

The MWSS has been targeting to secure the ECC and finish the design until March to immediately proceed with the construction of the dam.

The construction of the New Centennial Water Supply Project can only take off once the DENR issues the ECC, a requirement needed to be secured by any project in the country that poses potential environmental risk or impact.

Last year, the MWSS has already released an initial P565 million paid to the Department of Public Works and Highways for road construction from the P2 billion government share for the project.

Of the P12.2 billion construction cost of the project, 85 percent will be funded by the official development assistance from China amounting to P10.2 billion, while 15 percent or P2 billion will be shouldered by MWSS.

After 34 years, Kaliwa Dam is set to fully take off following the formal signing of the contract between President Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping last November.

The project, which would supply additional 600 million liters of water per day to Metro Manila, will be undertaken by China Energy Engineering Corp.

The construction of the multi-billion water project was first approved by NEDA in 2014. Financing scheme was changed in 2017 from a public-private partnership to official development assistance.

MWSS said the benefits of the project also include tourism boom, opening of new roads, employment opportunities and improved economy in the areas.