The construction and engineering arm of DMCI Holdings has broken ground for the P10.5-billion Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas (Camana) Water Reclamation Facility project of Maynilad Water Services Inc. (Maynilad), the biggest of its kind in the country.

Expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2024, Maynilad’s Camana facility is designed to treat 205 million liters per day of wastewater.

“This is an enormous undertaking because it involves expanding the capacity of a 40-year old facility by over 600 percent,” said Jorge Consunji, president of D.M. Consunji Inc.

The Camana facility is one of Maynilad’s large-scale, complex and multiyear capital expenditure projects. It involves the rehabilitation and expansion of the company’s 26 MLD Dagat-Dagatan Sewage Treatment Plant, which was built in the 1980s.

DMCI expects to employ up to 1,000 direct and indirect workers when the project hits its peak around the first quarter of 2023.

“This facility also represents two milestones for DMCI. Aside from being our largest wastewater project, to date, it is our first partnership with JFE Engineering Corp. of Japan,” he added.

JFE Engineering is the engineering arm of JFE Holdings, one of the largest corporations in the world, according to the 2020 Fortune Global 500.

DMCI has developed a track record of building landmarks and pioneering structures. Since completing the first skyscraper in the Philippines in the 1950s, it has built over 1,000 projects of varying scale and complexity.

This year, DMCI is set to turn over Ikea Manila, the largest branch of Ikea in the world.