Proposed Dams in the Kaliwa River watershed

Several bulk water supply projects on the upper portion of the Kaliwa River Watershed have been proposed by the Philippine Government since the 1970s,[1] with the intent of relieving Metro Manila of its overdependence on the water supplied by Angat Dam.[2][3] Most of these have focused on a particular site in Barangay Laiban in Tanay, Rizal, on the upper portion of the Kaliwa River Watershed to which the Laiban Dam belongs, and the projects have thus often been referred to as Laiban dam or Kaliwa dam, although multiple projects have been referred to using either name.[1]

Due to controversies regarding the project's environmental impact[4] and its potential effect on local communities,[5] notably including a community of Remontado Dumagat people who consider the area part of their ancestral lands,[6] these projects have been controversial and have thus been alternatingly approved, deferred, cancelled, and reapproved by the Philippine Government at different times since the late 1970s.[3]

The Laiban sub-watershed site

The Laiban site where the project is supposed to be built is a Barangay of municipality of Tanay in the province of Rizal, east of Metro Manila. It contains he 180 ha Laiban sub-watershed, a microbasin of the bigger Kaliwa Watershed, nestled in the southeastern portion of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range.[4]

The Kaliwa Watershed forms part of the Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor (SMBC), and has been identified by the Southern Sierra Madre Wildlife Center of the Environmental Studies Institute of Miriam College as one of the SMBC's 14 priority biodiversity conservation sites.[4] It is described as "an important wildlife habitat that contains dipterocarp trees, a wide array of birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles, some of which are threatened and endemic species."

In 1999 the Kaliwa Watershed, evaluated at the time as "degraded due to anthropogenic pressures", was classified as a protected area under the National Integrated Protected Areas System.[4]

The terrain is generally mountainous, surrounded by slopes > 50%, consisting partly of forested hills and partly of cultivated land, with some slash and burn cultivation (kaingin) areas present. Its elevation is from 220 masl (meters above sea level) to 1,530 masl.[5] A number of small creeks run through the lower slopes, all eventually connecting to the main river.[4]

The village also serves as home to the indigenous Remontado Dumagats.[4]

Project background

Plan under Marcos administration
Main article: Manila Water Supply III project

The history of projects on the Kaliwa River watershed began with the conception of the Manila Water Supply III project in November 1979 during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos. However, instructed the MWSS to look for alternative sites. The MWSS identified the Kaliwa River basin to be the most viable alternative, and began the first World Bank feasibility study on the damming of the Kaliwa river in 1979.[3]

During that time, however, the Philippine economy had gone into rapid decline because Marcos' debt driven deficit spending made the Philippines vulnerable when the United States increased its interest rates in the third quarter of 1981.[7][8][9] The ensuing collapse of the Philippine Economy, worsened by the political pressure after the assassination of Benigno Aquino, led to slow development of the Laiban dam project until Marcos was forced out of office and into exile by the 1986 People Power Revolution.[10]

Disapproval under Aquino administration

By 1989, the succeeding administration of Corazon Aquino reviewed the project and determined that costs had ballooned so high that the project had to be shelved.[11]

Revival under the Ramos and Arroyo administrations

After the administration of President Fidel Ramos took over in 1992, it continued conducting studies for the development of a Kaliwa dam, but these remained just proposals as he Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System was privatized, and concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad took over the servicing of water in the National Capital Region.[12]

In 2007, the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was able to get funding for the Laiban Dam approved. But the ZTE broadband scandal broke, and the project, which would have been funded using China state loans, was once again shelved.[12]

2009 San Miguel Corporation proposal

In 2009, San Miguel Corporation submitted an unsolicited proposal for the building of a dam in Laiban, but public opinion at the thought of higher water rates led to the project once again being shelved in 2010.[12]

2009 Kaliwa Intake Weir proposal

Also in 2009, Osaka-based Japanese company Global Utility Development Corporation (GUDC) submitted an unsolicited proposal for what was called the Kaliwa Intake Weir Project, which would have seen the creation of a 7 meter,550 MLD Weir at the Kaliwa site, instead of a Dam.[13] At the instructions of President Aquino, this proposal was explored again in 2017, after the approval of the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project (NCWSP) by NEDA. However, it was later dismissed in favor a China-loan-funded dam project in 2019.[14]

Kaliwa Low Dam Proposal under the Benigno Aquino III administration
Main article: Kaliwa Low Dam

The New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project (NCWSP) was a water project proposed by the Philippine Government in 2012, whose main component was the construction of the Kaliwa Low Dam in Tanay, Rizal, as well as a water supply tunnel, and the attendant infrastructure for these structures.[15] The proposed Kaliwa Low Dam design had a 600 million-liters-a-day (MLD) capacity, and the water supply tunnel has a 2,400-MLD capacity. Had it been built, the Kaliwa Low Dam was expected to ease the demand on the Angat Dam, Manila’s sole water storage facility.[16]

The project had originally been proposed as a bigger, integrated system which included a plan for a second dam, named Laiban dam further upstream. But the government decided on a proposal which would have built the system in stages, and only stage one, involving Kaliwa Low Dam and the water supply tunnel, were approved under the administration of Benigno Aquino III.[2]

In 2015, two consortia were pre-qualified to bid for the undertaking of the Kaliwa Dam project[17] — the SMC-K Water Consortium, which is a partnership between San Miguel Holdings Corp. and Korea Water Resources Corp.; and the Abeima-Datem Consortium, which is a partnership between Albeinsa Infraestructura Medio Ambiento S.A and Datem Inc.[17]

When the project did not move forward by the time Aquino administration ended, the succeeding Duterte administration decided not to pursue the Japanese-proposed Kaliwa Low Dam plan and instead pursued a bigger, China-funded dam project.[18]

2019 dam proposal

In 2019,[19][20] under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, the government revealed that it would not continue the approved Low Dam proposal of the previous administration, and that it would seek Chinese loans to fund a full-sized dam instead.[2][21][18]

See also

References
  1. Calleja, Nina (February 25, 2013). "P85B MWSS project: Same river in Tanay but different plan: Gov't to undertake project to head off possible water shortage in NCR". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Makati: Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  2. Añonuevo, Euan Paulo C. (June 11, 2014), Laiban Dam Project next on MWSS' PPP list, InterAksyon.com
  3. "Laiban Dam Project Chronology of Events" (PDF). pcij.org. Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. July 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 20, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  4. Villegas, Karl L.; Pollisco, Filiberto A., Jr. (2008). "Floral survey of Laiban sub-watershed in the Sierra Madre Mountain Range in the Philippines" (PDF). Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation. Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation. 4 (1): 1–14. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  5. Crucio, Emmanuel; Parayno, Phares (2010). Laiban Dam Project: Interlocking Ethics, Values and People in a Philippine Watershed (PDF). The Sixteenth Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference, 30 May - 1 June 2010 (Conference Proceedings). Hong Kong. ISBN 978-988-18934-1-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  6. Mallari, Delfin T., Jr. (July 12, 2013). "Sierra Madre tribe asks Congress to stop Laiban dam". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Makati City: Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  7. Guido, Edson Joseph; de los Reyes, Che (2017), "The best of times? Data debunk Marcos's economic 'golden years'", ABSCBN News and Public Affairs
  8. "Martial law: costly lessons in economic development". GMA News Online.
  9. Punongbayan, JC (11 September 2017). "Marcos plundered to 'protect' the economy? Makes no economic sense". Rappler. Ortigas Center, Pasig.
  10. Magno, Alexander R., ed. (1998). "Democracy at the Crossroads". Kasaysayan, The Story of the Filipino People Volume 9:A Nation Reborn. Hong Kong: Asia Publishing Company Limited.
  11. "IN THE KNOW: The New Centennial Water Source Project". Philippine Daily Inquirer. March 14, 2019. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  12. "What You Need to Know About the Kaliwa Dam Project". SPOT.PH.
  13. "Japanese firm renews proposal on Kaliwa Dam project". www.pna.gov.ph.
  14. Villanueva, Marichu A. "Muddling the water shortage issue". philstar.com.
  15. "China will make Philippines dam a reality, after four decades of protest". South China Morning Post. 2018-12-09. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
  16. Smith, Sandy (June 23, 2014). "New Starts: Closing 6 Blocks in D.C., Planning K.C. Streetcars From Afar, Manila's New Water Supply". nextcity.org. Next City. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  17. bw_mark. "Integrated PPP vs Hybrid PPP: The case of Kaliwa Dam - BusinessWorld". BusinessWorld | The most trusted source of Philippine business news and analysis. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  18. "Why borrow from China? Japanese dam is free, safe". Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  19. Chavez, Leilani (2019-11-05). "A Philippine tribe that defeated a dam prepares to fight its reincarnation". Mongabay Environmental News. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
  20. "'China-backed dam will destroy Sierra Madre biodiversity'". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
  21. "Coalition rejects China-funded Kaliwa Dam project". Retrieved 2019-08-20.

Additional References

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