NIA pushes for Balintingon
river dam project

BY JOJO DE GUZMAN

GAPAN, Nueva Ecija — As the board of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) backtracked from its plan of abolishing the agency’s 71 provincial irrigation offices, NIA administrator Arturo Lomibao made a pitch for the proposed P8.3-billion Balintingon River multipurpose project (BRMP) in Nueva Ecija.

At the awarding ceremonies of lot certificates recently for the proposed Ginandusan Subdivision, a pilot housing project for NIA employees, Lomibao invited prospective build-operate-transfer (BOT) proponents for the giant BRMP dam project, which would also augment the existing water supply in Metro Manila.

The distribution was held at the District 4 office of the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems (UPRIIS) here where Lomibao said "I urge investors to submit their proposals and we will look at them".

Lomibao explained that the project was not included in the list of big projects prioritized in the "Super Regions" projects of President Arroyo, but they are looking at it (Balintingon) as an alternative.

While there are ongoing negotiations for the BRMP, Lomibao said they are at the exploratory stage and there are no firm commitments yet from BOT proponents.

Last July, Lomibao’s predecessor, Baltazar Usis, announced that the California Energy Casecnan II Inc. (CECI), builder of the $600-million BOT component of the Casecnan multipurpose irrigation and power project, had forged a memorandum of understanding with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and NIA for the development of the BRMP.

California Energy is an international leader in the development and production of energy from diversified fuel sources, including geothermal, natural gas and hydroelectric.

Nangel said the BRMP is projected to irrigate 18,800 hectares of farmlands in the eastern sections of Central Luzon, covering Nueva Ecija, Bulacan and Pampanga.

The project’s original feasibility study was completed in the early 80s and California Energy offered to undertake a new feasibility study to suit prevailing economic conditions.

Under the NIA’s 1983 detailed feasibility study, financed by a grant from the Italian government, Santos said a 140-meter high rockfill central core dam was proposed to be built across the Sumacbao River in this city with a reservoir capacity of 572 million cubic meters.

Also to be constructed are a 140-meter diversion weir, 109 kilometers of main canals, 168 kilometers of lateral and sub-lateral canals, 210 kilometers of drainage channels, and access and service roads.

The project would benefit 548,000 farmers in the towns of Cabiao, Gen. Tinio, Peñaranda, San Isidro, and Sta. Rosa and the cities of Gapan and Cabanatuan, all in Nueva Ecija; San Ildefonso, San Miguel and San Rafael in Bulacan; and Arayat in Pampanga.

Assisting Lomibao in awarding the lot certificates were engineer Antonio Nangel, UPRIIS operations manager; engineer Marcelino Santos, NIA District 4 chief; and Antonio Reyes, president of the 9,000-strong NIA Employees Association of the Philippines (NIAEASP).

Miguel San Gabriel, NIAEASP District 4 president, said the housing project involves the development of 127 lots on a 3.5-hectare NIA property in Ginandusan at a cost of P220 per square meter.

Reyes emphasized that the withdrawal of the rationalization plan which was earlier submitted to the Department of Budget and Management, was a moral victory for their group, who opposed it in an 11-page position paper submitted to President Arroyo.

In Resolution 7426-06, the NIA board agreed to withdraw the rationalization plan. Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, who chairs the board, the agency’s highest policy-making body, was furnished a copy of the resolution.

Reyes explained that in their position paper, the NIA employees sought NIA’s exemption from the implementation of Executive Order 366, which provides the guidelines for the government’s rationalization scheme.

The NIA employees said the PIOs will be effectively abolished under the Participatory Irrigation Development Project’s irrigation management transfer, one of whose components is the rationalization plan.

The PIDP, a World Bank-funded scheme, according to the employees’ group, will rationalize the NIA, abolish the PIOs, and merge vital departments and divisions in the NIA central office and regional offices.

"In short, the PIDP shall extremely scale down irrigation development, thus aggravating the worsening irrigation (situation)," they said.

Lomibao, in a letter to Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., said they were withdrawing the agency’s rationalization plan in line with the agriculture department’s request for another six months to totally review it.

Reyes said their group’s national council passed a resolution creating a panel to study, review and make recommendations on the NIA rationalization plan.

The panel is composed of Victorino Aron, Alejandro Culibar, Willie Ablan and Reyes himself.

The council’s various officials – district presidents and sectoral representatives – approved the resolution.

Reyes, however added that the panel would present its recommendations to the council for approval prior to its submission to the NIA management.