NEDA committee okays P15.8-B Tarlac dam project

CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines – The Cabinet Committee (Cabcom) of the National Economic and Development Authority has approved the long-stalled P15.8-billion Phase 2 of the Balog-Balog Multi-Purpose Dam Project (BBMP) in Tarlac whose delay has supposedly led to the replacement last July of then National Irrigation Administration chief Antonio Nangel.

NIA administrator Claro Maranan told a press briefing on Thursday that the project is now awaiting approval by the NEDA Board.

Maranan said they are hoping the NEDA Board would approve the project within this month after which they will hold the bidding in the last quarter of the year.

Maranan met with Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems operations manager Josephine Salazar and other NIA officials in his first official visit to this city since assuming the post last July 4 and succeeding Nangel who hails from this city.

The delay in the implementation of the BBMP – named after the river located in the uplands of Barangay Maamot in San Jose, Tarlac – and the supposed failure of NIA to meet its targets prompted President Aquino to scold Nangel during the NIA’s 50th anniversary rites. Over a week later, Aquino replaced him with Maranan.    

Maranan said his office has finished the detailed engineering for the project that will cost P15.8 billion funded through local funds.

Comprising the second phase will be a dam 105.5 meters high and three cascading dams with a height of 25 meters each.

Together, they can irrigate up to 34,410 hectares in Tarlac City and eight other towns in Tarlac, benefiting 24,000 farmers.