P625-M irrigation project to be completed in December

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) expects to complete by December the P625-million Tarlac irrigation project funded by Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

Agriculture Secretary and concurrent NIA chairman Luis Lorenzo Jr. yesterday said construction of the foreign-assisted project that taps the groundwater resource of Tarlac for irrigation purposes is now about 75-percent complete

The project aims to harness the province’s abundant aquifers or underground reservoirs for irrigation instead of relying on rivers and lakes which Tarlac lacks.

"This is one of the few irrigation projects where we have to extract water from below the ground but once it is fully completed by end December 2003, it can provide a year-round irrigation supply to a total farm area of 2,500 hectares," Lorenzo said.

Citing a report from NIA Administrator Jesus Emmanuel Paras, Lorenzo said the project calls for the construction of 52 diesel-engine powered deep-well pump irrigation systems in selected areas of Tarlac with no surface water but with rich groundwater resources.

Each deep-well pump costs about P5 to P6 million and has the capacity to irrigate 40 to 60 hectares benefiting at least 35 farmers.

Since work began in July 1997, NIA has installed 25 pumps which can draw water, enough to irrigate a total of 1,250 hectares that will benefit 700 farmers.

Lorenzo said 10 of the 25 working pumps had been commissioned in Panique, Tarlac last week.

Of the 10 units, three were installed in the town of Anao, four in Victoria, and one each in La Paz, Concepcion, and Pura.

He pointed out that of the 27 deep-well pumps still under construction, 18 are about to be completed in the next seven months and only nine more are yet to be drilled.