Completion of the Kaliwa Dam straddling the provinces of Rizal and Quezon will take the next four years to complete, or at the end of 2026, according to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).
Leonor Cleofas, MWSS administrator, said on Wednesday the China funded dam requires tunnel boring activities at a projected cost of P12.2 billion and deliver to Metro Manila additional water supply of 600 million liters per day.
“The tunnel boring machine already started in Teresa and Morong in Rizal. We see the tunnel boring to be completed by mid-2026 since it will travel 22 kilometers across the Sierra Madre mountain range. At the same time, if we can complete the validation of the resettlement of 46 families, we can start the construction of the dam and complete it by 2026,” Cleofas said.
The contractor of the project is proposing to be allowed to do the tunnel boring 24×7 to meet the end-2026 target.
Cleofas said the special agreement on the use of protected area (SAPA) endorsement is still being processed with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
The document will allow the project to traverse watershed areas of the provinces of Rizal and Quezon.
Cleofas clarified the tunnel boring segment of the project has started pending release of SAPA as the tunnel was started in Teresa, Rizal or outside of the protected and ancestral domain areas.
Overall, the Kaliwa Dam is at 21 percent complete at the moment.
