On December 7th the first double shield hard rock TBM - named Jasmine after the Philippines’ national flower ‘’sampaguita’’ and imported from China - has started to excavate the conveyance tunnel for the New Centennial Water Source – Kaliwa Dam Project, located in Lecha Province, the Philippines. The dimension of the TBM cutter are 4.8 m, the total length is 372 m and the total weight is about 1,000 t.  

China Energy Engineering Group Ltd (CEEC)  secured the Design & Build Contract  for the 21.495-km headrace tunnel and  related ancillary works. The shield tunnelling is about 17.5km long, crossing 13 fault fracture areas.  In June 2021 they held the groundbreaking ceremony in Rizal Province.  

The Kaliwa Dam is a significant infrastructure project being built under the cooperation framework between China and the Philippines. It is one of the flagship projects under the Build, Build, Build program. The diversion tunnel, and the 73-m-high concrete gravity dam will supply up to 600,000 t of water every day to adapt to the increased water needs of Manila and nearby provinces.  

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) - the project owner mainly responsible for the construction and management of the water supply and sewage system in Manila, the capital of the Philippines - secured all the necessary permits to build the PHP 12.2 billion Kaliwa Dam and have signed a memorandum of agreement with the indigenous peoples (IPs) of Rizal and Quezon. Formore detailed information please visit https://www.pna.gov.ph/  and https://mwss.gov.ph/. 52/22.