SAN Miguel Corp.’s unsolicited proposal to build the Laiban dam has been shelved by the new leadership of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System pending the result of a water supply and demand study by the World Bank.
“The Laiban project has been on the table for decades. Every project that we have to take, it’s always a matter of when do we need it and how much it would cost. We’re afraid that the project would be too much too soon, or too much too late,” Ramon Alikpala, MWSS chairman, said.
The project is expected to serve 5.5 million people, or 690,000 households in the province of Rizal and southern Metro Manila.
Alikpala said the MWSS does not want consumers to carry the burden of paying for a project that might prove unnecessary, especially given its $1 billion price tag.
“Laiban is a huge project, and it might help to address the issue regarding water security [in Mega Manila]. I also talked about how all our water comes from Angat. If something happens to Angat, what’s our alternative? If nothing happens, then there’s Laiban, that’s also a problem,” Alikpala said.
Based on studies, Mega Manila will experience a water supply shortfall of 200 to 300 million liters a day by 2015.
“This is why we have commissioned the World Bank to verify the projections. The actions to be taken to address the long-term water needs of Mega Manila would be based on the study,” the official said.
“What they’re going to look at is the demand projections because it will establish what demand would be. But more important, it will look at the different water sources in terms of viability. We wish to marry those two issues in terms of supply and demand to address our long-term plan,” he said.
Alikpala said the study would be completed by the end of the year.
The Laiban project has been questioned by many groups because of the possible increase in tariffs once the facility is put up.
A feasibility and detailed engineering study for the project, including the construction of the diversion tunnels, was completed in 1984.
The project was deferred in 1989 to focus on other priorities, namely the Angat Water Supply Optimization Project and the Umiray-Angat Transbasin Project.
The Laiban project is among those lined up by the government for joint-venture activities with the private sector. To date, the government had spent P755 million on the project.
In 2009, SMC, through unit San Miguel Bulk Water, submitted an “unsolicited” proposal to undertake the project. However, talks between SMC and the MWSS fell through a year later.
Early this year, SMC submitted anew a letter to MWSS, saying that it plans to revive talks for the development of the dam.
