The China Energy Engineering Group Ltd. (CEEC) Kaliwa Dam Project held an open-day activity on December 7 as the first hard-rock double shield tunnel boring machine (TBM) imported from China to the Philippines started tunneling operation.
The Kaliwa Dam is a significant infrastructure project under the cooperation framework between China and the Philippines. It is one of the flagship projects under the Build, Build, Build program.
With a 21.9-kilometer-long diversion tunnel, the 73-meter-high dam is estimated to supply 600,000 tons of water every day and will help ease the water shortage in the Metro Manila area.
Nearly 40 guests, including staff members of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and some residents of Teresa, Rizal Province, where the outlet area of the project is located, were invited to join the activity.
In the presence of the guests and the Chinese and Filipino employees, the China-developed hard-rock TBM named after the Philippines’ national flower Sampaguita, started to excavate a conveyance tunnel of the project, which highlighted the open-day activity.
Compared with traditional equipment, this drilling equipment is the most advanced TBM.
“The dimension of the TBM cutter is 4.8m, the total length 372m, and the total weight is about 1,000 tons. It is truly a steel dragon,” Zhang Jie, head of the diversion tunnel team of the dam, said.
“Choosing CEEC as the builder of the Kaliwa Dam is a wise and good decision as it deals with water shortage, improves water safety, and participates in ecological conservation,” one of the guests said.