SMC ramping up dredging operations in Bulacan

Less than four months since completing its P2-billion initiative to clean up the Pasig River, San Miguel Corporation’s (SMC) comprehensive efforts to rehabilitate major river systems has shifted to high gear in Central Luzon.

In just one year, the company has removed more than 2 million metric tonnes of silt and waste covering a distance of around 25 kilometers of river channels in Bulacan, initially focusing in areas around the future New Manila International Airport and upstream rivers in Obando, Bulakan, Bocaue and Meycauayan City within the same catch basin.

Additionally, SMC has started conducting bathymetric studies at the Pampanga River, following the completion of river studies in another catch basin in Bulacan.

Last October, the company launched its expanded river cleanup program by signing a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and the local government units of several cities and provinces.

The expanded program will include the upstream areas of the Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue and Guiguinto; other main river systems in different catch basins in Malolos, Hagonoy and Calumpit; the Pampanga River, and rivers in Laguna, Cavite, Navotas, and San Juan.

Including the total output of its Pasig River cleanup, which includes the still-ongoing cleanup of the San Juan River (1,437,391 tons of silt and wastes) and the completed Tullahan River cleanup (1,124,183 metric tons), SMC’s river rehabilitation efforts have removed over 4.5 million tons of wastes from approximately 68 kilometers of river systems.