NEDA presses for irrigation project in Northern Samar

published January 13, 2009 in BusinessWorld and GMANews.tv

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) warned against further delay in the implementation of the P2.9-billion Help for Catubig Advancement Project, a major irrigation project aimed at boosting rice production in Northern Samar.

Buenaventura Go-Soco, NEDA regional director for Eastern Visayas, said the project has been delayed for two years. The project’s executive committee is set to meet this week to assess the implementation of the project.

"The heavy rains had affected the project, but with the summer months coming in, contractors should be prepared to catch up and maximize their accomplishment within the next six months," Mr. Go-Soco said.

The project is getting an additional P490 million from the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and other implementing agencies to accelerate project progress and cover the increase in the prices of construction materials. "The costing was done in 2000. Obviously, there were changes in the prices of construction materials in the past eight years," Mr. Go-Soco added.

With the revised costing, the project now costs P2.9 billion. Actual disbursement from 2002 reached P1.39 billion as of December 2007.

The project covers 4,550 hectares of rice farm in more than 70 villages of the municipalities of Las Navas and Catubig in the Catubig Valley in Northern Samar.

The five components of the project and lead implementing agencies are: NIA, Department of Public Works and Highways for rural infrastructure improvement, Department of Health for schistosomiasis control, Department of Agriculture for farm support services, as well as local governments for institutional development.

Of the P490-million additional allocation, P389 million comes from NIA, P62 million from DPWH, P11 million from the DA, P3 million from the Health department, P17 million from the Northern Samar provincial government and P6 million from the Catubig and Las Navas municipal governments.

Around 92% of the total rice land area in Samar Island has no irrigation support, resulting in only 45% rice sufficiency in the three Samar provinces. Of the 81,000 hectares of rice farm on the entire island, only around 6,000 hectares have irrigation systems. — Sarwell Q. Meniano, BusinessWorld