San Miguel subsidiary eyes Laiban Dam project

MANILA, Philippines- San Miguel Corp., Southeast Asia's largest food and beverage conglomerate, is seeking to partner with the government for the development of a dam project seen to supply future water needs of Metro Manila. In a statement, San Miguel said wholly-owned subsidiary San Miguel Bulk Water Co. Inc. (SMBWCI) it has submitted an unsolicited proposal for a joint venture project to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System for the development of Laiban Dam. San Miguel added SMBWCI and its foreign partner will enter into a cooperative joint venture with MWSS to secure financing, construct, operate and maintain the project. The plan for project will include the construction of the dam and headworks, raw water conveyance facilities, water treatment plant, hydropower plant, treated water conveyance facilities, pumping stations, storage facilities and offtake points. "The Laiban Dam Project, located in Tanay, Rizal is intended to address the long-term water requirements of Metro Manila and to provide stability and security to the water supply source," San Miguel said. It added that its subsidiary's proposal is in line with San Miguel's direction to invest in strategic industries such as power, oil and gas, and water. Documents from the NEDA showed that the construction of the Laiban Dam project will amount to about P48 billion. The project is among those lined up by the government for joint venture activities with the private sector. The project will develop a raw water dam and other structures with a capacity of 1,830 million liters daily. The project is seen to benefit 5.5-million people. It seeks to reduce the risk of possible water shortage in the future given increasing demand in Metro Manila. San Miguel has recently agreed to sell its beer brands, intellectual property rights and real estate to beer unit San Miguel Brewery Inc. for P38.8 billion. San Miguel has been very aggressive in venturing out of its core food and beverage business. It has bought 27 percent of Manila Electric Co. for P30 billion. It has also agreed to purchase majority stake in Petron Corp., the Philippines' largest oil refiner, for P32.2 billion and is planning to enter telecommunications through a venture with Qatar Telecom. GMANews.TV