NIA to start collecting irrigation fees

CABANATUAN CITY – Some 2,000 hectares of farmlands planted to annual crops such as watermelon, melon, calamansi, onion and garlic and 150 hectares of fishponds will now be assessed irrigation service fees (ISFs) by the National Irrigation Administration-Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems (NIA-UPRIIS).

Antonio Nangel, NIA-UPRIIS operations manager, told The STAR that farmlands planted to crops other than palay within its service area will be billed a ISF amounting to 7.5 cavans per hectare while fishponds will be assessed six cavans per hectare.

Nangel said the new ISF rates are in line with Memorandum Circular 4 issued by NIA Administrator Proceso Domingo. This is also pursuant to Resolution 7290-04 issued on December 13,2004 by the NIA board of directors which will be effective up to Dec. 31 this year.

Nangel said that previously, fishponds are billed the same rate as palay. He said irrigation water for rice production will still have higher priority over annual crops and fishponds.

NIA-UPRIIS is the operator of the giant Pantabangan Dam, the country’s largest national irrigation system (NIS) which has a maximum irrigable service area of 102,000 hectares. However, due to siltation, its service area was reduced.

Based on the latest inventory, the system’s service area is now at 88,406 hectares. – Manny Galvez