The construction of the Kaliwa Dam in the provinces of Rizal and Quezon is now 30 percent complete, according to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).
Leonor Cleofas, MWSS administrator, said in Muntinlupa City the project should take another three and a half years to complete and be commissioned before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ends his term of office.
“We’re still looking at three and a half years. That would be 2027. Hopefully the commissioning will be second quarter of 2028,” Cleofas said.
The Kaliwa Dam will provide Metro Manila an additional 600 million liters of water per day. It is supported by an official development assistance (ODA) loan from China and costs P12.2 billion.
The project relates to a 60-meter tall dam with a riverbed elevation of 100 meters and a reservoir surface area of 291 hectares.
The MWSS had said the Kaliwa Dam provides Metro Manila with a critically important water source as the Angat reservoir and other sources should soon deplete.
Last year the MWSS turned over P160 million as disturbance fee for the indigeenous communities grouped under the Tanay Dumagat/Remontado Ancestral Domain Development Inc. and the Pigtaanan ne Dumaget-Remontado de General Nakar, Quezon in the province of Rizal and Quezon.
Cleofas said the one-time disturbance fee will fund the education, health, livelihood and cultural enrichment programs of the communities.
MWSS also said as the Kaliwa Dam becomes operational, the recognized communities will receive an annual package of P46 million.
