Gov’t mulls PPP scheme to revive Laiban Dam project

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration, through the Metropolitan Waterworks & Sewerage System (MWSS), is mulling to revive the controversial P85-billion Laiban Dam project through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.

In an announcement, the PPP Center of the Philippines said MWSS is currently formulating plans for the proposed New Centennial Water Source Project (NCWP), a project that involves one or two greenfield dam developments that would further expand Metro Manila’s water sources.

The NCWS project involves the development of a dam at the Kaliwa River (Laiban Dam), and/or a smaller dam downstream (Kaliwa Low Dam) to maximize water supply, ensure short- and long-term redundancy, and optimize power generation capacities.

“At full completion, the project is targeted to add a capacity of at least 1,800 million liters per day, but this will be achieved in stages as the supply deficit warrants,” the MWSS said.

The state-owned water regulator said the project is likely to comprise the construction of the two dams, the conveyance structure from the diversion point to the water treatment facility and also a hydropower facility.

“MWSS is currently researching the viability of the NCWS project. It is considering different contracting modalities, among which (the) PPP (scheme),” it said.

To support MWSS in this endeavor, the PPP Center has appointed RebelGroup in consortium with Allen & Overy, Crisil, PJS Law and Royal Haskoning DHV as transaction advisors for the NCWS project.

As such, MWSS will be holding consultations with interested parties.

“The objective of the interaction will be to better understand potential commercial and technical concerns in the market based on the publicly available information,” the PPP Center said.