NIA wants P20-B budget for 2012 irrigation works

To fast-track the completion of its irrigation projects in around the country, the National Irrigation Administration wants a P20-billion budget for next year. “We are going to frontload a lot of new irrigation projects and speed up majority of the repair projects on communal and national irrigation systems to arm our farmers in the proposed rice sufficiency target by 2013," NIA director Antonio Nangel said Monday at the sidelines of the Communication and News Exchange forum in Quezon City. The agency has an approved budget of P12.79 billion this year, of which P5.03 billion was earmarked to partly fund six foreign-assisted projects and P7.75 billion for 43 locally funded projects. The biggest foreign-assisted project for the year is the P12.92-billion National Irrigation Secretor Rehabilitation and Improvement project covering 10 regions. A chunk of the P5.03-billion counterpart fund for the foreign-assisted projects will go to the P11.24-billion Agno River Integrated Irrigation Project. The Agency has set aside P3.21 billion for the project which will be financed by the Eximbank of China. The other projects that were allocated funds for 2011 are the P2.44-billion assistance for the Catubig Agricultural Advancement Project funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the P7.5-billion Malitubog-Maridagao Irrigation Project-Stage II, and the P2.18-billion Irrigation Systems Operation Efficiency Improvement Project funded by the Asian Development Bank. The Philippine government is still negotiating with the Japanese government to fund the second phase of the Malitubog-Maridagao Irrigation Project in Mindanao. — VS, GMA News