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K-water partners with Philippines on smart city and hydro infrastructure

Published: 22 Apr. 2026, 17:45 Updated: 22 Apr. 2026, 17:53

LEE SOO-JUNG
[email protected]

The state-owned Korea Water Resources Corporation CEO Yun Seog-dae, right, shakes hands with the Filipino Environment and Natural Resources Minister Juan Miguel Cuna in Manila on April 21. [KOREA WATER RESOURCES CORPORATION]

The state-owned Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) inked two memorandums of understanding with relevant Filipino energy and infrastructure agencies earlier this week to jointly work on smart city technology and hydro-energy supply, K-water said Wednesday.

K-water signed one MOU with state-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority on Monday and another with private energy provider First Gen on the same day. The deals came as part of bilateral exchanges among high-ranking officials' on the sidelines of the Asia Water Council event held in Manila between Monday and Tuesday.

Through the MOU, K-water and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority will jointly review the application of smart-city technologies in the Philippines — specifically solar energy development, energy storage facilities, and smart water leak detection systems, all of which have been utilized in Korea's southern port city of Busan.

In the case of the First Gen deal, K-water will jointly review how to develop pumped-storage hydroelectricity in northern Manila. The two agencies are expected to further their discussions over joint development and investment prospects.

The deals come as the Philippines strives to cover up to 50 percent of its total energy consumption with renewable energy by 2040. The Southeast Asian nation currently is considering ways to introduce water-resource-based infrastructure, according to a press release from K-water.

"K-water's expertise in managing 20 multipurpose dams across Korea and local's trust toward the agency in operating a hydropower project at Angat Dam have become the foundation of the latest cooperation," K-water said. The Angat Dam supplies more than 90 percent of Manila's usable water.

Separate from the deals, K-water CEO Yun Seog-dae held a series of talks with Filipino lawmakers and the minister of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources regarding responses to climate change, AI-powered water management and improvements to old water pipe infrastructure. Yun additionally met and spoke with state officials from the Local Water Utilities Administration and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

“[The latest] achievements are significant as they specified bilateral cooperation in the fields of water, city development and energy, and led them into actual results,” Yun said. “I will expand the sphere where the two countries could develop bilateral agendas into concrete projects and cooperation models that are tailored to partners’ conditions.”

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]