GMA opens Bayongan
Dam, most expensive
By KIT BAGAIPO

WATER, PLEASE! Pres. Arroyo eagerly waits for the water to flow at the expensive P3.6-billion Bayongan Dam irrigation project last Friday with Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsura, Gov. Erico Aumentado, Reps. Edgar Chatto, Roberto Cajes and Adam Jala. Foto DANNY REYES

Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo inaugurated on Friday the P3.6-billion Bayongan Dam, touted as the "most expensive irrigation facility in the country" by former National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) director-general Romulo Neri. The Bayongan Dam construction had been

As of now the water elevation at the irrigation project's reservoir is only 39-meters, or 13-meters short of the water supply required to irrigate its service area of 5,300 hectares.

According to Membreve, the current water elevation could only supply water to some 500 to 800 hectares in its service.

The Bayongan Dam source of funding was obtained through Official Development Assistance (ODA) through the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

Hence, it is under supervision of the NEDA's Investment Coordinating Committee (ICC).

BOUND TO FAIL

A project evaluation report by NEDA project monitoring director Roderick Planta revealed, however, that the ability of Bayongan Dam to supply water to its 3,500 farmer beneficiaries is through excess water coming from Malinao Dam.

The same NEDA technical evaluation bared that on the average, Malinao Dam can only irrigate about 65% and 53% of its 4,900-hectare service area during wet and dry season, respectively.

Lomuel Corre, a resident of barangay Estaca, Pilar and member of irrigators' association of Malinao Dam bared in a Chronicle interview that presently the delivering capacity of Malinao is only good for 19 days supply of water.

He said, normally there should be a continuous water supply for 60 days after planting season.

There are about 40-60 hectares of ricelands at the service areas endpoints that could not be irrigated by the Malinao Dam, Corre said.

According to Ira Pamat, a member of farmers organization "Humabol", there are 1,260 farmland owners who were supposed to be beneficiaries of the Malinao irrigation but never experienced water flowing from the dam's canals since it started operating ten years ago.

Pamat is worried the same failure will happen of Bayongan Dam's supposed farmer beneficiaries.

EXPENSIVE DAM

In its technical evaluation report, NEDA reported that based on the project's revised cost of P3.6-billion and the target of 5,300 hectares of areas to be irrigated, the project would require P684,882 to irrigate one hectare of land as compared to its original cost of P449,890 per hectare.

"The Bayongan Dam is so far the most expensive irrigation project being implemented by NIA," the evaluation repored cited.

It compared the Lower Agusan Development Project-Irrigation which has two pumping stations, the development cost to irrigate a hectare of land is at P286,743.

On the other hand, the Tarlac Groundwater Irrigation Systems Reactivation Project which involves construction and installation of deep well pumps, it has an average cost of P218,549 to irrigate per hectare.

The NEDA blamed the cost over-runs of Bayongan Dam to procurement delays, saying in its evaluation report that "NIA could have exercised prudence and adherence to the established procurement guidelines to avert implementation delays and the consequential cost overruns."

The Bayongan Dam project implementation was approved in April 1999 with an original contract price of P2.3-billion.

Actual construction started in 2000 and was supposed to be finished in 2005.

However, until last year, NIA was not able to finish the project and instead applied for a 2-year extension of the project from December 2005 to December this year.

It incurred an additional P1.2-billion from its original contract price purportedly due to foreign exchange rate adjustments, claimed project manager Membreve.

NIA also claimed the cost overruns were partly caused by additional land acquisitions that were affected by the project and compensation to landowners.

This justification was criticized by NEDA in its report questioning why "NIA was not able to front-load such costs."

MIXED EXPECTATIONS

Gov. Erico Aumentado expressed hopes that the opening of the irrigation system will bring new developments to the province.

It is a different story, however, for Pablito Capin, 51, a member of a farmers association in barangay Himbabauran.

Capin, who has 3 hectares of ricelands, said in an interview with the Chronicle that he is concerned that what happened with some farmers in the neighboring town of Dagohoy who obtained loan from a local contractor to convert their land into ricefields but never saw the irrigation's water supply reach their area.

According to Capin, farmers like him in barangay Himbabauran were told by NIA that they will be paying P60,000 per hectare for their lands to be leveled and converted to ricefields. Capin owns 2-hectares that is subject for conversion.

However, their original agreement had been at P45,000 which is payable in ten years.
The farmer beneficiaries are also expected to give 120-kilos to NIA every cropping season as irrigation fee.

Capin hopes that his usual harvest of 40-50 sacks per hectare every cropping season will increase with the newly operational irrigation system.

Meanwhile, Teodoro Curiba, said in a separate interview that until now NIA has yet to pay his family P180,000 for their land that was traversed by the dam's reservoir.

Farmers like Curiba were relocated to a resident of barangay Los Angeles a few kilometers from the new irrigation dam.

Most of them has yet to be fully compensated by NIA for their lands that are now part of Bayongan Dam's 314-hectare reservoir.

QUESTIONABLE ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY

Apparently, neither the GMA blessing last Friday nor the DOJ (Department of Justice) legal opinion on the superiority of the "Executive Agreement" over the ODA Act, will extinguish an earlier publicly admitted and documented stand of the NEDA and the ICC that the Bayongan Dam cost is "excessive".

In a picturesque satirical simile, former NEDA Chief Romulo Neri told ABS CBN during an interview (in reference to the Bayongan Dam) that "it's as if (the NIA) was allowed to buy a Toyota but bought a BMW (instead)".

The issue has reached the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee which is reportedly actively putting the pieces together. Unlike the other controversial deal named NBN-ZTE Deal where the NEDA minutes are momentarily placed in lock and key as part of
"Executive Privilege", much of the NEDA positions and minutes on BHIP-2 have been released to the media and the public.

Much of the NEDA-ICC position was likewise reiterated by Neri on nationwide TV and in interviews with Manila-based business daily Business Mirror. Juan Mercado, columnist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer also made references to several issues - largely technical and the initial bidding process - that further questioned the integrity of the so-called "flagship project".

Three other dams located in Ilocos Sur, Cebu and Nueva Ecija (servicing up to Pampanga) have all been summarily questioned by NEDA for its unjustifiable overruns.

VARYING STANDARD WATER ELEVATION

Meanwhile, an inconsistency in the normal water level of the Bayongan Dam's reservoir has been noted based on varying statements issued by project manager Membreve and Gov. Aumentado.

First, Membreve announced that the water elevation of 35-meters is almost achieved.

Later the ideal water elevation was raised to 42-meters when Gov. Aumentado announced the reservoir's water level is already 38-meters, just 4 meters short of the required elevation to irrigate its service area.

However, a general information sheet regarding Bayongan Dam which was released to the media days before Friday's inauguration, showed that the normal water level for the dam to irrigate its service area is 52-meters.