President Estrada visited Pampanga yesterday to assess the progress of the irrigation component of the P3.4-billion Japanese-assisted Pampanga Delta Development Project which is expected to bring much-needed irrigation water to farmlands that were once covered by lahar.
A mammoth undertaking of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), the project aims to accelerate the delivery of water to 10,270 hectares of farmlands previously covered by mud as a result of the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.
Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara, who joined the President in the visit, said the project is one of the most important ventures lined up under the government's Agrikulturang Makamasa program, intended to boost agricultural production in Central Luzon and reduce the incidence of poverty in Pampanga.
One major aspect of the irrigation project is the construction of a diversion dam with provisions for desilting facilities in preparation for lahar that may still come from higher areas around Mt. Pinatubo.
The dam, now 56 percent complete, will provide irrigation water to six Pampanga municipalities by 2002, as against the original target completion date of April 2001.
These areas include Arayat, 2,751 hectares; Sta. Ana, 2,060 hectares; Mexico, 2,020 hectares; San Luis, 1,333 hectares, San Simon, 1,040 hectares; and Candaba, 11,066 hectares.
NIA Administrator Manuel Arevalo said the project was originally conceived to irrigate a total area of 12,000 hectares but the coverage has to be reduced due to change in land use of some prime agricultural lands and the effects of the volcanic eruption. The newly established design area of 10,270 hectares was based on a recent survey.
At the start of the year, actual generated area of the project had reached 4,704 hectares, Arevalo said. He added that work has been so intense that actual physical accomplishment this year had 139 percent, way above the projected 100 percent target performance level for 2000.