Quezon vice gov urged to collect royalty from Angat Dam

LUCENA CITY, Philippines –  – Quezon Vice Gov. Vicente ‘Kulit’ Alcala, who opposes the construction of the Laiban Dam is now urged to collect a percentage of royalty from the Umiray-Angat Dam project through a compromise agreement between the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and the local government of Quezon province.

As part of the economical strategy to mitigate the economic problems which hinder the development of the province, Quezon Gov. David Suarez and Alcala drafted the conceptual plan on how to ease the P700 million debt from the Landbank, with P110 million loan amortization, and P20 million Meralco electrical charges.

“Suarez said he plans to talk to the board of directors of MWSS for them to give a percentage of royalty for the benefit of Quezon folk. For three months, this was his primary concern and also the collection of real property tax amounting to P5.5 billion from TeaM Energy, a 735-megawatt build-operate-transfer (BOT) power plant located in Pagbilao, Quezon,” Alcala said.

The Umiray River that contributes about 20 - 30 percent of raw water for Metro Manila and the diversion facilities which were constructed under the Umiray-Angat Transbasin Project became operational in June 2000.

Thus, the intake facilities are located at Umiray, General Nakar, Quezon, while the outlet facilities are located in Macua, Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan. The water from Umiray River to Macua River is conveyed through a 13 km tunnel (4.30 m. diameter) across Sierra Madre Mountains of which the half part is in Quezon.

On Nov. 29, 2004, typhoon Winnie and Yoyong had caused severe damage to the Umiray-Angat Transbasin Tunnel and its facilities resulting to the complete stoppage of operation, particularly the conveyance of raw water from the Umiray River to the Angat reservoir thru Macua River.