Casecnan Dam builder eyes P5-B river project in Nueva Ecija

GAPAN CITY, Nueva Ecija — An American firm responsible for the construction of the giant Casecnan Dam is eyeing the construction of the proposed P5-billion Balintingon River Multipurpose Project (BRMP) in southern Nueva Ecija to help address the water crisis in Manila and augment the need for irrigation water in Central Luzon.

A top official of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said that construction of the BRMP is being eyed under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme, the same private sector-led investments mode that led to the construction of the Casecnan Dam.

NIA Administrator Baltazar Usis identified the US firm as California Energy International Ltd. (CalEnergy). CalEnergy is a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. (MEHC), considered the global leader in the production, supply and distribution of energy.

Usis said that CalEnergy has expressed keen interest in developing Balintingon Dam, which has long been proposed by government planners but has not taken off.

"If it’s under BOT, the government might give its go-signal for the project," Usis said, adding that the dam project, if pushed, will help irrigate the existing area of the Angat Dam whose water supply will then be used for power generation.

In 1994, CalEnergy built the Casecnan Dam, a combined irrigation and hydroelectric power project. It now transports 800 million cubic meters of water annually from the Casecnan and Taan rivers in Nueva Vizcaya using two 30-meter high weirs that divert it to Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija through a 26-kilometer underground tunnel.

The construction of the dam stabilized the water supply at the Pantabangan Dam whose maximum irrigable area is at 102,000 hectares. It also irrigates 35,000 hectares in new rice lands and provides 150 megawatts of electricity.