P2.5 B re-regulating pond for San Roque cancelled
BLACK PROPAGANDA BLAMED
China funding eyed instead
URDANETA CITY—It’s goodbye finally to the proposed P2.5 billion re-regulating pond below the San Roque Multi-Purpose Project in San Manuel after the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) had a change of heart.
National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Regional Director John Celeste confirmed that JBIC withdrew its funding support for the project earlier set to be implemented by NIA.
Celeste said JBIC’s decision was largely a result of the black propaganda waged in Japan and through the internet by original oppositors to the dam who sought the withdrawal of the loan due to the unsolved slaying of farmer- leader Jose Doton, president of the Tignay Dagiti Mannalon a Mangwayawaya ti Agno (TIMMAWA) about two years ago.
TIMMAWA, a militant farmer organization, earlier opposed the construction of the San Roque Multi-Purpose Project.
However, Celeste said the Arroyo government is presently seeking to source the P2.5 billion fund from another foreign lending institution, possibly from China.
He said that if a new lending agency is found, the implementing agency will no longer be NIA but the National Power Corporation.
The re-regulating pond is another mega dam just like San Roque that will store all the water the power plant discharges when it produces electricity.
The re-regulating pond can irrigate more that 70,000 hectares of land in eastern and central Pangasinan, as well as in northern Nueva Ecija and Tarlac.
When not impounded, the water will just flow down the Agno River and ends up in the Lingayen Gulf.
The P2.5 billion re-regulating fund is part of the identified projects to be built in the North Luzon Agri-business Quadrangle in order to spur food production.
As an alternative to the project, NIA is now rehabilitating its old and silted irrigation canals built in Pangasinan more than 50 years ago to increase their capacity to irrigate farm lands.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has designated Engr. Reynaldo Mencias in charge of rehabilitating irrigation canals that seeks to irrigate additional 15,000 hectares of farmlands.—LM
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
