The New Centennial Water Source (NCWS) – Kaliwa Dam Project is now expected to be completed by the end of December 2026, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) has reported.

(File photo)

MWSS Administrator Leonor Cleofas said that a tunnel boring machine has started tunneling operations in Teresa, Rizal to finish the project on the adjusted schedule.

“This is about 22 kilometers and makikita po natin ang tunnel boring machine (we will see the tunnel boring machine) in the middle of 2026,” Cleofas said during a hearing of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development last Wednesday, May 17.

The Kaliwa Dam project is a 63-meter-high reservoir that will hold an initial discharge capacity of 600 million liters per day (MLD) of water which are intended to supply customers in Metro Manila as well as nearby areas that only depend on two dams in Bulacan.

The original target date for the completion of the project was set in the middle part of 2026.

However, Cleofas said that the construction was mainly delayed due to the issuance of the necessary clearances for the project.

The project was put on hold after it was faced by protests from the indigenous peoples (IPs) in the area, particularly the Dumagat-Remontado communities in Rizal and Quezon provinces. The IPs said the project encroaches on their ancestral land.

Cleofas said it took eight years before the MWSS received the Certificate of Precondition from the National Commission on Indigenous People, which certifies that the site covered and affected by any application for concession, license or lease, or production-sharing agreement does not overlap with any ancestral domain area of any indigenous cultural community (ICC) or IPs. (Nicole Magmanlac)