ILOILO CITY — South Koreans experts said that the ongoing P13-billion mega dam project has reduced flooding in Calinog town, Iloilo province.
In a report, joint venture consultants from the Korea Rural Community Corp., Saman Corp., and Dasan Consultants Ltd. Corp. revealed that the Jalaur River Multipurpose Project-Stage II (JRMP-II) was able to prevent flashflood during the onslaught of severe tropical storm "Paeng" last October.
Once completed, the JRMP-II will be the biggest project of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) in Western Visayas region.
Three dams and the reservoirs are being constructed.
“While we are still in the construction phase, we are happy to note that the dams helped a lot in mitigating flooding within the project site,” said Engr. Jonel Borres, project manager of JRMP-II.
The JRMP high dam was estimated to reduce flooding by more than 70 percent.
The more than 55-meter dam collected 13.8 billion liters of flood water with a maximum height of 35.1 meters from the riverbed which is equivalent to more than an 11-story building.
At the tail end of the afterbay dam diversion tunnel, the flood height was recorded to be at eight meters high from the riverbed or equivalent to an almost three-story building.
Borres said South Korean experts noted how the dams served as temporary water storage in the mountainside.
“Otherwise, there would have been massive flooding in the downstream and heavily populated areas,” added Borres.
The JRMP-II is more than 60 percent complete.