Gov’t eyeing two giant dams to solve Metro water crisis

CABANATUAN CITY — The Arroyo administration hopes to tap private sector participation in financing the construction of two giant dams in Central Luzon to solve the looming water crisis in Metro Manila.

Undersecretary Renato Diaz, presidential assistant for North Luzon, told The STAR that his office, under instructions from President Arroyo, is now negotiating with possible build-operate-transfer (BOT) proponents to bankroll the construction of the Balintingon Dam at the boundary of Nueva Ecija and Bulacan, and the Bayabas Dam in Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan.

He said the twin dam projects could provide long-term solutions to the water problems affecting 800,000 households in Metro Manila and 480,000 more in Central Luzon.

"I am now discussing with foreign funding groups the possibility of tapping additional dams to solve the water problem," he said.

Diaz said the P5-billion Balintingon River Multipurpose Project (BRMP) could provide the irrigation needs of northern Bulacan and enable the Angat Dam to solely concentrate on supplementing water to the La Mesa Dam, the primary drinking water source of the metropolis.

The BRMP was first conceived under the Irrigation Development Plan for Central Luzon, a reconnaissance study conducted by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and ECI Consultants Inc. in 1976.

Under this plan, a 140-meter high rockfill central core dam with a catchment area of 228 square meters is proposed to be built in Gapan City, 90 kms. north of Manila, traversed by the Philippine-Japan Friendship Highway. Its reservoir has a potential storage capacity of 572 million cubic meters of water.