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NIA clears San Roque Dam irrigation site

SAN MANUEL, Pangasinan (June 10) — The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) has jumpstarted a multi-million peso irrigation component of the San Roque Multi-Purpose Dam when it called on residents of Sitio Moging, San Felipe West, in San Nicolas town to vacate the area to give way to a diversion weir, an initial installation to the dam’s irrigation component, the Agno River Integrated Irrigation Project (ARIIP).

In April, residents of Sitio Moging, living within the dam compound have been properly surveyed by officials of NIA for compensation. The 116 affected residents, however, complained of a limited compensation package.

According to some villagers, the NIA officials stopped short in offering payment for about 134 house structures.

NIA officials refused to air comment but confirmed that no budget has been released yet for the project.

The agency has estimated the implementation of a resettlement action plan to cost P110 million which covers payment for land, crops and 189 structures.

Domeng Talon, 53, a resident said “NIA officials told us that the agency is “broke” and it could only pay for the house structures”. Costs of house structures range from P15,000 to P85,000 based on the prevailing market price, said Talon.

The agency has been lobbying for a P6.2 billion loan from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) since 2003. JBIC has appraised the amount to P8 billion in October, 2004. But the funding agency has been stringent, contemplating on demands from concerned groups to withdraw the project.

The ARIIP is aimed at utilizing excess waters released from the dam during heights of typhoons to irrigate about 34,450 hectares of agricultural lands in 17 towns in Pangasinan and Urdaneta City.

The diversion dam is able to impound about 5.5 million cubic meters of excesses from the dam, according to NIA. The project involves the rehabilitation of the two existing irrigation systems along Agno River: Agno River Irrigation System (ARIS), Ambayaoan-Dipalo Irrigation System (ADRIS). NIA said the two systems has worn out barely rendering service to about 6,300 hectares.

Tignay dagiti Mannalon a Mangwaya-waya iti Agno (TIMMAWA), staunch critic of the San Roque dam, said proponents must look into the grave effects of the dam before implementing a “macro-level irrigation project”.

The group claims that the dam project has yet to settle outstanding issues of unpaid compensation to more than 3,000 gold panners while at least 500 hectares in San Nicolas remain unpaid.

Hozue Hatae, campaigner of Friends of the Earth-Japan, a watchdog for JBIC assisted projects, said, “It should be the proponents’ responsibility to ensure a standard living condition for the affected communities and the JBIC has made stringent policies on these.”

Meanwhile, Eleuterio Revollido, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Pangasinan chair feared that bigger floods might swamp the province should macro-level irrigation be pushed through.

“The ARIIP is masquerading as an irrigation facility but we suspect that it is nonetheless a flood-control facility of the dam,” he said. Revollido pointed out three existing active fault lines crisscrossing the dam facility that might trigger damage to any structure connected to the dam such as ARIIP. # Jong de la Cruz for NORDIS

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