The Upper Wawa Dam—completed seven months ahead of schedule—won’t just secure Metro Manila’s water supply. It will also generate clean energy for its own operations.

WawaJVCo, a joint venture led by Prime Infra, announced that the dam’s environmental flow turbine will produce renewable electricity from regulated river discharge. This feature allows the facility to power critical functions without relying heavily on external energy sources, reinforcing the project’s commitment to sustainability.

Prime Infra announced the Upper Wawa Dam has been completed seven months ahead of schedule and is now undergoing final preparations before its scheduled commercial operations in December.

The dam, part of the second phase of the Wawa Bulk Water Supply Project, is the largest water supply dam built in the Philippines in the last 5 decades. It is expected to deliver up to 710 million liters of water per day, which is enough to meet the year-round needs of over 700,000 households or approximately 3.5 million people within the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) service area.

A handover ceremony from the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor to WawaJVCo marked the formal completion of the project. WawaJVCo has since been conducting performance tests on the dam’s key systems, which includes its gates, sensor instruments, and environmental flow turbine.

Melvin John Tan, President of WawaJVCo and Prime Infra’s Market Sector Lead for Water, said the early completion demonstrates the company’s ability to deliver large-scale infrastructure projects on time. He called the dam “one of our most critical water projects.”

The Upper Wawa Dam features a 450-hectare reservoir, about twice the size of Bonifacio Global City, and can store up to 120 million cubic meters of water. Construction began in 2021 and was completed in record time given the project’s complexity and scale.

MWSS Administrator and Vice Chairperson Leonor Cleofas has previously cited the dam as an important element in the agency’s long-term water security strategy. The overall goal of which is aimed at ensuring a stable supply for Metro Manila and nearby areas.

Prime Infra, the infrastructure arm of Filipino businessman Enrique K. Razon Jr., leads the WawaJVCo. The company focuses on building infrastructure projects that support urgent sustainability needs, including clean water, renewable energy, and waste management.

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