THE Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) expects to soon seal a deal with food and beverage conglomerate San Miguel Corp. on the proposed P52-billion Laiban dam project.

MWSS Administrator Diosdado Jose Allado said the government targets to award the project to San Miguel within the quarter pending the conglomerate?s submission of the necessary requirements.

Allado said the committee handling the project was just awaiting the submission of some ?technical documents,? after which the MWSS plans to act on the proposal immediately.

Allado stressed the necessity to have an alternative water source such as the Laiban dam, citing the low water levels at the Angat dam in Bulacan where Metro Manila sources 97 percent of its water requirements.

?If we have the Laiban, we won?t have to worry about our water supply. We have been saying from the beginning that the main reason and imperative for pursuing the Laiban project is water security,? Allado said.

The MWSS had started cutting the water volumes it is sourcing from the Angat dam.

By June, the MWSS plans to reduce water it draws by 24 percent, which is equivalent to more than a billion liters of water a day. This was based on projections that the water level in Angat would drop to 158.01 meters above sea level?which could be the lowest level to be reported in over a decade.

Allado expressed confidence that given the situation in Angat dam, more proponents and groups would support the construction of the Laiban dam.

?I?d like to hear the voices of all those people who were opposing Laiban now. I will see more people advocating for Laiban behind me than those opposing [it],? Allado said.

Once approved, the proposed Laiban dam would be a joint-venture project of San Miguel and the MWSS. It will be designed to divert water from two river systems in the Sierra Madre?Kaliwa and Kanan?to supply potable water to Metro Manila.

In February 2009, San Miguel, through its unit San Miguel Bulk Water Co. Inc. (SMBWCI), submitted an unsolicited proposal to construct the dam, on a joint venture basis, which the MWSS said would ?not require a single centavo from the government.?

The dam, when finished, will provide an average 1.89 billion liters of water a day for some 5.5 million residents of Metro Manila and surrounding provinces by 2015. The project will also include a hydropower plant to supply 25 megawatts of electricity.

No other firm gave a competitive proposal for the dam, thus allowing the MWSS to begin negotiations with San Miguel.