Power plant component makes Laiban a coveted deal.

Byline: Daxim L. Lucas

(Second of three parts)

CONCEIVED AS EARLY AS 1979 DURING the Marcos era, the Laiban Dam in Tanay, Rizal, is a project 30 years in the making, meant to provide Metro Manila residents with an alternative source of drinking water to the larger Angat Dam in Bulacan.

At that time, a detailed study and preliminary work was conducted until President Corazon Aquino deferred the project in 1989 due to ballooning costs. But studies continued through the Ramos and Estrada presidencies, with the Arroyo administration identifying Laiban as an infrastructure project that would be funded by a loan from Chinaa proposal that fell through after Chinese …