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MANILA – The China-funded Kaliwa Dam project is cheaper compared to a Japan-backed proposal and can provide reliable water supply during droughts, a finance official said Thursday.

The 60-meter dam is cheaper to build at P12.2 billion compared to the P21 billion 7-meter weir project proposed by the Japanese firm Global Utility Development Corporation, Finance Assistant Secretary Tony Lambino told ANC.

Kaliwa Dam will collect water as compared to the weir, which will depend solely on the river flow, he said.

“What we need to consider is that we are in a period of climate change. The droughts and floods are a lot less predictable compared to before so building a weir makes us vulnerable to changes in climate conditions while a dam will allow us to collect water supply that we can use during dry spells,” Lambino said.

“If we can build a dam for P12.2 at 60 meters, I don’t know why a weir would cost P21 billion,” he said.

Lambino said the Kaliwa Dam was also designed to hold a total of 2,400 million liters per day with future upgrades. Another water source Kanan, can provide an additional 1,800 mld to the Kaliwa dam through a conveyance tunnel, he said.