SMC sees 1M ton of silt gone from Pasig River by February

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 31) — San Miguel Corporation (SMC) said it expects to remove one million metric tons of silt and waste from the Pasig River by February as cleanup efforts continue.

In a statement on Tuesday, SMC said the ongoing cleanup has improved the river's flood-carrying capacity to six meters, from two to three meters when the ₱2-billion project started in 2021.

SMC President and CEO Ramon S. Ang said the target one million metric tons by February will be achieved just 20 months after the initiative was launched in July 2021, with the support of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and local government units.

According to SMC, cleanup teams have so far extracted 927,198 metric tons of silt and waste from the Pasig River, with monthly targets now at more than 70,000 tons.

Apart from better flood carrying capacity, removal of silt and waste also means improved safety for ferries and other vessels traveling the river.

Ang also said the pace of its clean-up activities at the Pasig River is considerably faster compared to its earlier project to clean up the Tullahan River, owing to its deployment of more heavy equipment and personnel.

The ₱1-billion Tullahan River cleanup project removed a total of 1.12 million tons of waste in 2022 - two years after it started.

"Compared to our earlier Tullahan River cleanup, the positive impacts of our Pasig River effort will be felt in even more areas. It will benefit not just people from Metro Manila, but also many who are living in Rizal, all the way to Laguna de Bay," Ang said.