ILOILO CITY - According to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), the mega dam project in Iloilo province will be operational by 2024.
Engr. Jonel Borres, NIA-6 regional manager, said the P11.2-billion dam in Calinog town can start to supply water by first quarter of 2024.
This is as NIA-6 has set to complete the construction of the Jalaur River Multipurpose Project (JRMP-II) by 2023.
Borres explained in an online press conference that the three separate dams and reservoirs will have to wait for at least a year to store water.
Borres also assured that NIA-6 will try its best to reach the target completion of the construction despite the setbacks caused by the pandemic.
The project though has resumed just two weeks after construction work was temporarily halted when workers for the South Korean contractor Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. After were infected by coronavirus disease (COVID-19). .
Borres also noted that prior to temporary work stoppage caused by COVID-19, construction work was way ahead of its target by six percent. Completion rate is at almost 38 percent.
Ilonggo Senator Franklin Drilon, who lobbied for funding, said there should be no more delays in the completion of JRMP-II.
“This project was started in 2011. It’s been 10 years already. We have to wait for another three years. This would be 13 years in the making,” Drilon said.
The JRMP-II, which has an P8.9-billion loan from Export-Import Bank of South Korea, was supposed to be finished during the presidency of Benigno Aquino III.
The JRMP-II is the flagship program of NIA in the Visayas. It will irrigate 31, 840 hectares of farmlands and improve rice production in Iloilo province.
JRMP-II is also set to generate 86 million liters of potable water supply per day and power a 6.6-megawatt hydro-electric plant.