THE construction of the P7.8 billion Agno River Integrated Irrigation Project (ARIIP) in San Manuel town will be a big boon to the province of Pangasinan

This was disclosed by Reynaldo Mencias of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) who was designated project manager of the ARIIP that will be built just below the spillway of the San Roque Multi-Purpose Project in San Manuel.

The project, known earlier as the irrigation component of the San Roque dam, was given a new concept as an ARIIP so that the facility can irrigate 34,500 hectares of farmlands in Pangasinan, northern Nueva Ecija and northern Tarlac.
   

The most expensive irrigation facility to be  built in Pangasinan yet, ARIIP is expected to store water coming  from the San Roque  Multi-Purpose Project in the upper Agno river basin at the peak of its power generation, and also the Dipalo and Ambayoan rivers in the north east.

Mencias said that with ARIIP expected to be completed in 2011, rice production in the province can produce an increment of 2 million cavans and another 200,000 cavans in northern Nueva Ecija and northern Tarlac.

Speaking before the “Kapehan sa Dagupan” last Thursday, he said these areas are all expected to hike their production to .70 million cavans per year.

In Pangasinan, existing irrigated lands can be maximized to produce rice three times a year, instead of only once.

The province’s 2 million additional rice production as a result of ARIIP will be added to the existing yearly rice harvest of the province of 836,000 metric tons, the third largest harvest among the provinces that comprise the NLAQ. Nueva Ecija is still the leading province in rice production.

 ARIIP’s total funding requirement is  P7.8 billion, at least  P5.8 billion will come from the Japanese government through the Japan  Bank for International Cooperation while the other 25 per cent or P2 billion will come from the yearly national appropriations to be allotted by Congress, he said.

Mencias said he expects the opposition to the project will soon soften since the members of the Tignay Dagiti Mannalon a Magwaya-waya to Agno (TIMMAWA), who are all farmers, will benefit from the irrigation project.

The project will be composed of a 100-hectare re-regulating pond with two intakes, one on the right and another on the left, to be built at least 1.6 kilometer downstream of the existing irrigation weir of the NIA built way back in 1957.

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