The $211 million Kaliwa Dam project, which was implemented to solve the chronic water shortage of Manila, the capital of the Philippines, has caused a major crisis between urban development and the rights of local communities.
This huge storage dam, which does not aim to produce electricity and only aims to transport 600 million liters of water per day to the capital, left the indigenous people living in the Sierra Madre mountains facing the fear of losing their homes and ancestral lands.
TENSION IN THE REGION INCREASED
According to the report of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, the environmental impact assessments of the ongoing project have escalated the tension in the region.
As water accumulates in the dam lake, there is a risk of inundation of low-lying areas, especially in the Daraitan region of Rizal province. Residents are worried that habitats previously considered safe may be wiped off the map as water levels rise.
This situation reveals how large infrastructure projects can solve one problem but lead to another humanitarian crisis; “Why do mountain indigenous people have to pay for the metropolis’ water security?” opened the question for discussion.
All copyrights of the articles, news and photographs published on the website www.sozcu.com.tr belong to Mega Ajans and Rek. Tic. It belongs to A.Ş. It cannot be quoted without permission, even by citing the source.
