National Irrigation Administration, Quezon City – Commercial Counselor Jin Yuan and Second Secretary Yang Ming from the Chinese Embassy here in the Philippines meet NIA’s top management headed by NIA Administrator Florencio F. Padernal, November 3, at the NIA Conference Room, Quezon City.
The meeting was primarily to discuss a smooth future cooperation for country’s irrigation sector. “We are glad that the Philippine President Duterte had a very successful state visit in China” Counselor Yuan told. Following the recent state visit of President Duterte in China, he further emphasized that the next most important action of the economic partnership is substantial implementation.
“We believe that your country (Philippines) is one of the most important economies in Asia”, he noted. The Commercial counselor further shared his meeting with the NEDA to draw-up a 6-year economic plan for the Philippines.
NIA thru Administrator Padernal briefly introduce the agency and its’ accomplishments for the past two years including the hydropower initiatives. Six (6) projects being proposed for funding were also presented, these are:
1 – Asbang Small Reservoir Impounding Project (SRIP) located in Davao del Sur province in Region 11, estimated to irrigate 469 hectares and with an estimated project cost of PhP 1,200 Million;
2 – Bohol Northeast Basin Multipurpose Dam Project located in Bohol Province, Region 7. It will irrigate an estimated area of 12,500 hectares covering 6 municipalities, and with an estimated cost of PhP4,134 Million;
3 – Gregorio del Pilar Impounding Project in the province of Ilocos Sur, Region 1. It will irrigate about 5,000 hectares in 5 municipalities and will have an estimated project cost of PhP3,452 Million;
4 – Ilocos Norte Irrigation Project covering the provinces of Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur both in Region 1, and the province of Abra in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). The estimated Service Area of the PhP14,994.04Million Project is 12,400 hectares;
5 – Tumaini River Multipurpose Project located in the Cagayan province, Region2. It will cover three (3) municipalities of the province. The project will generate an estimated service area of 4,585 hectares and it has an estimated Project cost of PhP4,003.03.
6 – Panay River Basin Integrated Development Project located in the provinces of Iloilo and Capiz in Region 6. The PhP14,761.90 Million project will benefit 19 Municipalities and will irrigate an estimated service area of 28,000 hectares.
Administrator Padernal stressed that all of the six (6) projects have their Feasibility Studies (FS) underway and should be fast tracked as it is hoped that the proposed projects will be completed in 2-4 years time.
As a moving forward action, Counselor Yuan asked the management to come up with a list of priority projects for the next 6 years. “We would like to request for your project proposals and see which we can push through”, he noted.
Administrator Padernal assured Counselor Yuan that NIA will surely work in parallel with National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), which is one the prime agency coordinating with the China Exim Bank Financing.
“We are happy that it can be the fruitful start of future collaborations between the two countries”, Dr. Padernal said. # (PILIPINA P. BERMUDEZ, Department Manager A, NIA Public Affairs and Information Staff)
