Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) Building. FILE PHOTO / PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER
MANILA, Philippines — It is possible that the construction of the China-funded Kaliwa Dam will not be finished within President Rodrigo Duterte’s term, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) said Wednesday.
“That is possible. But what is important, the President has started it already,” MWSS administrator Emmanuel Salamat said in a press briefing when asked whether Kaliwa Dam’s construction will go beyond the term of the President.
“It’s our obligation. We entered into China official development loan, an official loan with China. It’s a commitment, government to government,” Salamat added.
The MWSS official explained the Kaliwa Dam continues to be at the design phase which is estimated to take at least six months.
“It will take about six months and then until such time that we will agree on the design, approval of the design, we will proceed with the construction after we find that it is according to the specification that we want for the dam,” Salamat said.
The MWSS and the indigenous people (IP) organizations are also still in the process of drafting a memorandum of understanding as part of the agency’s comprehensive integrated development plan for those who will be displaced by the construction of the dam.
“We are now entering into the formulation of a memorandum of understanding with the IP community, which is essentially a part of our comprehensive integrated development program for the IP community,” Salamat said.
More than 400 individuals in 55 barangays will be displaced from their homes once the construction of the Kaliwa Dam starts, but Salamat assured that they will be relocated.
“We will make sure that we will provide community resettlement areas. It’s not just providing them housing. but it’s providing them a community facilities that they will need in order to exist in a new resettled area,” Salamat said.
The President earlier gave the go signal to the China-funded dam which he believed to be the “last resort” for Metro Manila’s problem on water supply.