By Victor V. Saulon, Sub-Editor
SAN MIGUEL Corp. (SMC) will be consulting its board and its lawyers once the government officially announces that the conglomerate’s unit is no longer in the running to handle the P18.72-billion Kaliwa dam project, its president said.
“Wala pa (None yet),” Ramon S. Ang, SMC president and chief operating officer told reporters when asked about the holding firm’s next move after news came out that the project would be funded by officially development assistance (ODA) from the Chinese government.
“Antayin natin pagka mayroon sinabing officially kasi puro kuwento lang ’yan (Let’s wait when there is an official announcement because that’s all talk for now),” he said.
“Then we will consult our board and our lawyers kung ano dapat gawin natin (on what we should do),” he said.
SMC unit San Miguel Holdings Corp. and its foreign partner is one of two consortia that were pre-qualified in October 2015 to undertake the New Centennial Water Supply Source Project, which calls for the construction of the Kaliwa dam to provide additional water source for Metro Manila. The other short listed company is Datem, Inc., also with a foreign partner.
A change in government leadership after the May 2016 national elections postponed the formal submission of bids. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) became its co-implementing agency along with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).
Mr. Ang said he had been saying that he prefers public-private partnerships (PPP), public biddings and public funding over government-funded projects. The Kaliwa dam project would been the first water project under the PPP scheme.
“Kung gusto ng government gawing ODA that will increase the debt growth, utang of the government at ’yong balance sheet ng government masisira (If the government prefers ODA that will increase the debt growth, that’s government debt and the government’s balance sheet would be hit),” he said.
MWSS under the past administration said the project would involve a 25-year contract to finance, design, and build a dam with a capacity of 600 million liters per day (MLD), a 2,400 MLD water conveyance tunnel and access roads, bridges and drainage system in General Nakar, Quezon.
In May this year, one of Metro Manila’s water concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. said it had learned that the project would be financed through ODA from China. Subsequent reports placed the ODA at around P10.9 billion.
The company earlier raised concerns about the delay in starting the project, which it was hoping would be completed by 2022 to 2023, the critical years for Metro Manila to have a new water source to keep in pace with the demand.
Asked if SMC had been informed of the changes in project implementation, Mr. Ang said: “Parang nabalitaan din lang namin sa dyaryo. Wala namang nagsasabi sa government. Usually sa dyaryo lang pinababalita. (I think we’ve also learned about it from the newspapers. No one from the government told us. Usually, it’s reported in the newspapers.)”
“Kung ODA ’yan, sino sa government official magbabantay ng project na ’yan to make sure it is properly built at the proper timeline and technically correct? (If that’s an ODA, which government official will look after the project to make sure it is built property, at the proper timeline and technically correct?),” he said.
