Aumentado pushes for Malinao Dam upgrading

Malinao Dam

By JUNE S. BLANCO

REP. Erico Aumentado (Bohol, 2nd District) is pushing anew for the upgrading of the Malinao Dam in Pilar town.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, the solon said it is high time to implement the project, to be funded by the Korea Export-Import Bank (Eximbank), in order to double its reservoir capacity from five million to 10 million cubic meters.

This way, he said, water for its present service area of 4,968 hectares will be sufficient to spare the rice lands therein from the ravages the El Niño phenomenon.

Congress is now preparing the 2013 budget. He said he commits to prioritize the insertion of funding for the dam upgrading project so that it can be implemented next year.

He said the project was already approved by the National Economic Development Authority Investment Coordination Committee Technical Board (Neda-ICC Technical Board) and is due for deliberation by the Neda Board and Cabinet group on  September 25 for their approval.

To note, he said, the Korea Eximbank and Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) had allotted around P800 million for the upgrading project in official development assistance (ODA) as a concessional loan with a liberal and long-term repayment schedule.

The additional five million cubic meters, he explained, can already add about 2,730 hectares of irrigable rice lands in Pilar, Dagohoy, Trinidad, San Miguel, Ubay and Alicia towns.

He suggested to Alcala that the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) put up the forward obligational authority Government of the Philippines (GOP) counterpart fund to trigger the initial release of ODA. This way, the project can be started in 2013 and completed in 2016 – within the reformist and righteous path of the Aquino administration.

To recall, under Aumentado’s watch as governor, the provincial government received a UD$1 million grant or P800 million from the Korean International Cooperation Agency for the conduct of a feasibility study (FS) and detailed engineering design (DED) for the Malinao Dam upgrading project.

At the same time, Aumentado submitted to Alcala a letter formalizing his request for the release of funding for 50 solar driers for the 2nd District. The post-harvest facilities, he explained, are urgently needed to ensure the proper drying of palay to the acceptable moisture content.

A ready buyer, he said, is committed to buy the palay at one peso higher per kilo than the buying price of the National Food Authority (NFA). The Alturas Group of Companies, he explained, has entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with his office and the irrigators’ associations (IAs) in his district as part of the comprehensive “Plant Hybrid Rice and Fertilize Now Pay Later” program and the ratooning project.

Aumentado provides P3 million from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PAF) for the fertilizer for participating farmers with an aggregate 3,000 hectares of irrigated rice lands devoted to hybrid and in-bred rice with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Region 7 office based in Tagbilaran City and the Bohol Agricultural Promotion Center as project implementers.

Hybrid rice, the proper fertilization, offers double yield from the same land area while rationing allows a second crop from one planting or a third crop in a year – with the proper fertilization also.

Both the Malinao Dam upgrading and the solar driers are basic support infrastructure for President Aquino’s rice self-sufficiency program and goal of discontinuing rice importation as this benefits foreign farmers only, he said.