This presentation features Estero Blitz, a rehabilitation initiative of Pasig River and tributaries by the Metro Manila Development Authority in the Philippines. The objectives of the initiative, including challenges and way forward, are discussed.

This presentation analogizes the present situation of Pasig River to an open fracture wound. The 10 million gallon per day storm water filter and ultraviolet disinfection facility located in Columbus in the state of Georgia, USA, is used as a case example.

River forms a very important component of a city’s growth; however there is no way of accurately measuring the total value of bringing it back to life. While rehabilitation and restoration of Manila’s Pasig River have come a very long way, a lot of work still remains.

Though ADB is a bank, it understands that cleaning up rivers and sustaining their cleanliness go beyond providing money to achieve this goal. Experience shows that community mobilization and leadership commitment, backed with a vision and supported by capable and coordinated institutions, are critical success factors.

Manila's Pasig River continues to play an important social, cultural, historical, and political role. Its restoration, which began with the Pasig River Rehabilitation Program in 1989, aims to reverse the effects of years of negligence, uncontrolled development, and unabated pollution.

The structural role and challenges of irrigation in East Asia are often not factored into macroeconomic accounts of regional development. The Asian Development Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the World Bank have expressed interest in taking a regional view of modernization to anticipate lending and technical assistance for irrigation in East Asia and the Pacific.

The structural role and challenges of irrigation in East Asia are often not factored into macroeconomic accounts of regional development. The Asian Development Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the World Bank have expressed interest in taking a regional view of modernization to anticipate lending and technical assistance for irrigation in East Asia and the Pacific.