Government not keen on reviving Laiban dam project

The Philippine government is not keen on reviving negotiations with San Miguel Corp. on the controversial Laiban dam project, as it wants to avoid placing the water sector in a situation similar to the energy industry where consumers pay more for generation costs than the actual commodity. The Aquino administration took the position despite the current water shortage. At a press briefing in Malacañang Thursday, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said he will "carefully" look into all proposals that are interested in the Laiban dam project, pointing out that he does not want the water sector to have a situation similar to the energy sector where the biggest chunk of the bill is for generation cost. "Let's look at the project that will make sense to consumers," he said. According to Maynilad Water Services (MWSS), the Laiban dam will supply 1.83 million liters of water per day at about 21 cubic meters per second, and 25 megawatts for hydropower generation. At present, the water supply of Metro Manila is around 4,000 million liters per day. Singson clarified that government was not too keen on conglomerate San Miguel's renewed interest in reviving the dam project in Tanay, Rizal. He confirmed that San Miguel president Ramon Ang had asked government to revive the "shelved project of Laiban..." GMANews.TV tried to reach Ang for comments but as of posting time, he has not picked up his phone. Singson, who was president of MWSS prior to his appointment to the Department of Public Works and Highways, said that San Miguel's interest has to be "compared with all the other proposals that have been put forward but were not considered by MWSS through due diligence. Meaning, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these proposals?" "An ideal proposal would be a water supply project that would be scalable. Meaning, based on the demand and supply shortage. You anticipate maybe two, three years and have enough buffers in your supply so that you are able to anticipate shortage or shortfall in the demand," he said. Factors that should be taken into consideration are the reliability of the facility that would be constructed, water quality, initial investment, operating cost, and the impact on water tariff, Singson said. The Laiban dam project, which will cost $1 billion or about P50 billion, aims to supplement the long-term water supply requirements of Metro Manila by building a dam on the Kaliwa river basin in Tanay, Rizal. Last year, San Miguel offered to put up the dam. But the alleged secrecy in the approval of the deal between San Miguel and the MWSS led to the collapse of talks and the eventual rejection of San Miguel's offer. The conglomerate, which is diversifying into heavy industries, wanted to build the dam in Rizal ahead of the 1.6 million liters daily expected by MWSS in five years. The Laiban dam is supposed to have a rated capacity of 1.9 million liters per day. Many parts of Metro Manila serviced by Maynilad are currently suffering from water shortage because of the low water level at the Angat dam, which supplies 97 percent of Metro Manila's water needs. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV