Kaliwa Dam eyes 2030 amid funding woes

QUEZON — The Kaliwa Dam project is targeting operations by 2030 as the government seeks alternative financing following the termination of its Chinese loan facility, raising concerns over further delays and mounting costs.

The New Centennial Water Source–Kaliwa Dam Project, spanning parts of Quezon and Rizal, is designed to supply an additional 600 million liters of water daily to Metro Manila and nearby areas.

However, the Commission on Audit’s (CoA) 2025 annual audit report on the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) showed the project remained substantially behind schedule.

As of December 2025, construction was about 26 percent complete, with a recorded physical slippage of 26.25 percent. Only 3,312.06 meters of the planned 17,480-meter water conveyance tunnel had been excavated, while no construction activity was reported at the main dam site during the audit period.

CoA cited financing constraints, restricted site access, land acquisition difficulties and outstanding permits as factors hampering implementation.

The Export-Import Bank of China terminated the availability of financing, preventing further loan disbursements despite an earlier government-approved extension. MWSS has since pursued alternative funding to keep construction moving.

MWSS spokesperson Engineer Patrick Dizon said the project was about 27 percent complete, with the tunnel boring machine remaining underground and undergoing maintenance amid construction constraints.

Dizon also said water concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad supported a proposal to equally share the remaining financing requirements. However, no final determination has been made on possible adjustments to consumer water rates.

The project’s approved cost rose from P12.2 billion to about P15.3 billion in April 2025 following revisions to its scope and implementation schedule.

CoA also flagged ₱837.662 million in preconstruction and development expenditures that were not properly classified under construction-in-progress accounts. These covered land acquisition, resettlement, community consent processes, standby costs and other project requirements. The finding concerned accounting classification and did not establish that the money was missing or misappropriated.