Aumentado reports Korea vows to help Bohol projects

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines  -- Top South Korean government officials have assured the Bohol delegation, led by Rep. Erico Aumentado (2nd district, Bohol), of official development assistance (ODA) to finance four multi-billion-peso projects in the province.

Aumentado, upon returning to the country over the weekend, immediately submitted a report to House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr detailing the successful outcome of the Bohol delegation's trip to Korea.

The delegation's co-head was National Irrigation Administrator Antonio Nangel, while the members were former NIA-7 regional manager Modesto Membreve, SunWest Group of Companies CEO Robert Uy, SunWest Power president Silvestre Natividad, congressional staff Leonard De Guzman and coordinator and interpreter Park Yung-Qu.

The Bohol delegation met former Korean ambassador to the Philippines, now Economic Minister Choi Joong-Kyung, and discussed in detail the four projects: 1) Bohol Northeast Basin Multi-Purpose Dam for irrigation and power; 2) Bohol-Cebu Multi-Access Bridge; 3) Malinao Dam upgrading; and 4) Bohol Circumferential Road Improvement Project Phase 3.

Choi, after getting Philippine assurance that the Bohol projects would generate multi-industry clusters (MICs) development, pledged his support for his government's ODA, said Aumentado.

The minister also told the delegation that the MIC has been one of the major strategies of the Korean government that accelerated its economic rise after the country's devastation by World War II.

"Minister Choi also appreciated the Philippine government's positive response for the upgrading of the Malinao Dam in Pilar, Bohol . The project would double the water storage capacity from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 cubic meters which could irrigate an additional 2,730 hectares of riceland in Bohol 's northeast basin," Aumentado said.

It was Choi who worked for the US$1 million grant for the feasibility study and detailed engineering design by K-Water for the Malinao Dam upgrading project, said Aumentado.

The delegation also had a meeting with Rep. Jung Young-Hee, chair of the Korean National Assembly's knowledge economy committee, who in turn promised to help facilitate the Korean ODA for the projects in Bohol.

Earlier, the delegation met with Ambassador Luis Cruz at the Philippine Embassy and discussed further the projects, which the ambassador readily committed his support.

Cruz however cited the disappointment of some ODA donors on the Philippine government's slow absorptive capacity to implement ODA projects," according to Aumentado who countered by promising congressional action on the counterpart funding for ODA-assisted projects in Bohol.

Nangel, for his part, assured Cruz that NIA is ready to put up the forward obligational authority fund as initial counterpart to jumpstart the implementation of the project.

The delegation then visited the K-Water Multi-purpose Daechung Dam for power generation, drinking water, irrigation, flood control and eco-tourism, which could be replicated in the proposed Bohol Northeast Basin Multi-purpose Dam.

Aumentado and his party also met with top officials of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Company, Inc. to discuss the putting up of a shipyard at the Basiao Channel between Ubay and Pres. Carlos P. Garcia towns in Bohol.

SunWest officials told Hanjin that their firms will provide the 200-megawatts power plant at less cost to provide Hanjin's needs for the shipyard. Some 10,000 jobs can be generated if the shipyard can be established in the Basiao Channel area, Aumentado said.

The Bohol congressman furnished a copy of his report to Belmonte, Secretaries Proceso Alcala of Agriculture, Rogelio Singson of DPWH and Jose Rene Almendras of Energy, and House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales and Minority Leader Edcel Lagman.