DAVAO CITY, January 30, 2014 (PIA)— Davao Oriental Governor Corazon N. Malanyaon remains determined to pursue the completion of Mindanao’s largest irrigation system development—the Cateel Irrigation Project (CIP), amidst being hit by two major calamities that halted its construction.
In a meeting Friday, January 24, with teams from the Provincial Engineering Office, Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP) under the Department of Agriculture and the National Irrigation Authority (NIA), Governor Malanyaon said that she is fixed and resolved to see the project through.
“I am holding on and I am filled with so much faith and optimism that we will accomplish this novel project” she said.
Both the Super typhoon Pablo in 2012 and the recent heavy flooding and landslides led by the Low Pressure Area have created massive damage not only to agriculture and infrastructures but as well as the multi-million irrigation system, thus, causing a heavy blow on the province’s already booming development milestones.
Based on reports from the CIP technical team, the estimated cost of damage to the irrigation project was valued at more than P43 million or 24.39% of the total contract cost, which includes concrete works, boulder riprap, earthworks and diversion and care of the river.
The week-long downpour, said expert engineers, had caused the base of the cofferdam to scour while the heavy flooding totally submerged the structure, causing it to be totally washed away.
Engr. Ruel Dumadag, Assistant Provincial Engineer explains that the rapid inundation was due to the absence of the forests that used to serve as its watershed system. “The trees, which were totally wiped out at the typhoon Pablo onslaught led to the lack of water seepage. With no proper seepage coupled with the massive debris have contributed to the huge volume of water displacement, which then resulted to the heavy flooding,” he said.
Engr. Arnold Rosete, Technical Assistant of the NIA added that Davao Oriental being situated downstream serves as the ‘catchment area’ of large volumes of water coming from nearby provinces such as Compostela Valley, which is connected towards the mountain ridges of Cateel.
This week, the CIP team is set for a meeting together with the Program Support Office of the MRDP to discuss the province’s proposed catch up plan to extend the project’s timeline.
Touted to be the biggest single project under the MRDP all over Mindanao, the CIP sets to provide sustainable irrigation water to approximately1, 600 hectares of suitable rice lands, promising a hundred percent rice sufficiency level for the entire province.
Governor Malanyaon said she believes the Cateel Irrigation project will create many opportunities that could significantly generate good income like from warehousing, rice milling, urban services and many others.
This P252 Million allotted budget for the CIP is being sourced out from the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP), the World Bank and counterpart from the Provincial Government.
“Personally, I wanted to finish this project because we have already placed huge investments while the expected return is so promising especially to our people,” she added. (By Karen Lou Deloso)
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