SMC proposes $2 B flood control project

MANILA, Philippines - Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is preparing to submit an unsolicited proposal for a $2-billion project that would spare Metro Manila from massive flooding in the coming years.

 “I will be submitting it,” SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said in an interview yesterday, referring to a proposed $2-billion flood control project that will include a waste-to-energy facility.

He underscored the importance of the project as he warned of potential massive flooding in Metro Manila during the rainy season should the development fail to push through.

“Do you know why there was a massive flooding during Typhoon Ondoy? That is because Laguna de Bay in the past was very deep, with a depth of 20 meters, unlike now where it is only two and a half meters and it is also filled with garbage. So that’s what catches all the rain. There should be large spillway project to take all that water from Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay,” he said.

“So that’s the most important flood control project, instead of just dredging it. Once you take out all that water, there will be no more flooding in Metro Manila. Plus, because of that large spillway, electricity can also be produced,” he added.

Ang is looking to integrate a waste-to-energy component for the proposed flood control project.

“The benefit of this project to our nation will be immense because flooding will be gone and at the same time the government, instead of paying me for what I will spend, will simply have to give me rights to use the materials, the garbage there,” he said.

Ang said SMC will tap a technical partner for the project, whom he declined to identify at the moment.

He also declined to disclose further details of the unsolicited proposal in fears of it being copied by others.

Unsolicited projects are proposals from the private sector to the government. The Aquino administration had rejected such proposals and pursued public-private partnerships (PPP) through projects it studied on its own.

Ang said he is much more supportive of this scheme as well as public bidding instead of government-to-government deals that require funding from bilateral loans, official development assistance and government funds.

He said such scheme would only bring huge debt to the government, which in turn, affect the country’s balance sheet.

SMC is one of the largest and most diversified conglomerates in the country with businesses in infrastructure, food, fuel and oil, power, beer, liquor and packaging.