Tarlac City – – Dreaming for a nightmare?
This came as some people aired their reservation on the Balog-balog dam during the time capsule laying marking the construction of the P5.7 Billion “mega project” at Barangay Maamot here last Monday.
A source says, in the feasibility study of the Balog-balog it will take 12 to 18 years to fill-up the dam’s reservoir of 560 Million cubic meters of water.
This is because the “length of the water source river is “relatively thin, short and low-lying” compared to other dams in Luzon such as the San Roque dam, the Ambuklao, Ipo, Pantabangan and Casecnan dams, among others, which are all located in the Caraballo-Sierra Madre mountain range.
The Zambales Range on the western part of Luzon is “comparatively a much smaller and lower mountain chain” than Caraballo-Sierra Madre which “fences” the Pacific Ocean side of Luzon.
This means, within 12 to 16 years, the dam will not supply any water to the targeted irrigable agricultural lands. And worse, the down stream river will dry-up for 16 years which will severely affect flora and fauna below the dam.
The same source who used to work at the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) also said that, contrary to the claim of the proponents, “Balog-balog will not mitigate flooding because the river itself does not cause flood”.
The BBMP dam proper, which has a budget of P7.9 Billion, is touted as one of the country’s most expensive dams, was designed to irrigate more than 34,000 hectares of agricultural lands in Tarlac Province and will also produce 43.5 Megawatts of electricity
Last Monday, “time capsule laying” was held at the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Project Management compound in Barangay Maamot, San Jose, signaling the commencement of the dam’s construction.
The ceremonies was led by Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco and NIA administrator Ricardo Visaya.
Balog-balog was first proposed by former Senator Benigno Aquino and was about to be constructed by former president Corazon “Cory” Aquino but the project was shelved because of the 1990 earthquake and the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption which inundated most of the province with massive lahar flows.
However, during the presidency of Cory, some structures were already put up including the offices of the NIA BBMP-PMO.
During the time of former presidents Joseph Ejercito Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, irrigation canals and other appurtenant downstream components were constructed.
More component projects were also put up during the administration of former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, but due to insufficient funding, the construction of the dam itself was put on hold.
The dam construction project was awarded to the joint venture of the Quezon City based ITP Construction and the Chinese firm Guangxi Hydro-Electric Construction Bureau Lmtd. for P5.86 Billion and is expected to be finished in 3 years or in 2020.
(The BBMP’s total project cost is P13.7 Billion the bulk of which was already spent for the down stream components and administrative facilities and manpower.)
The same source who requested his name withheld added, “right now the flooding caused by the Tarlac River is controllable save for damaged dikes which causes spillways. But construction of the dam’s 560 million cubic meters reservoir poses a great risk. Massive flooding is now possible if the Balog-balogdam breaks up due to deficient construction”.
In a separate interview, NIA BBMP Public Affairs and Information Services (PAIS) chief Edgar Ubaldo denied that it will take 12 to 16 years to fill up the dam’s reservoir saying “depende ‘yan sa ulan”.
Sought for comment, Jaime Ocampo whose family tends to a small farm land said, “Maganda sana ang Balog-balog project, pero dapat nagkaroon ng sufficient public consultation. At dapat ang NIA sabihin sa mga tao ang totoong mga data. Hindi dapat ipag-walang bahala ang kapakanan at kaligtasan ng mgatao”.
In a related development, a San Jose Municipal councilor Eliazar Dupitas disclosed that their municipality issued a “cease and desist order” to the NIA strongly opposing the construction of the dam.
“Pinipigilan namin ang construction ng Balog-balog dahil hindi nagko-comply ang NIA sa mga legal requirements. Halimbawa ang BBMP Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) ay 1992 pa. By law,expired na ang ECC after 5 years na hindi ito nagamit. Wala silang municipal construction permit, etc, etc. So, tingin namin, illegal ang construction ng dam”.
“Parang ginagawa lang ang Balog-balog para magkaroon ng pagkakakitaan ang mga nasa gobyerno”, also said source.
San Jose Mayor Jose “Pengoy” Yap, Jr, who is leading the opposition to the dam’s construction cannot be reached for comment. /By Nelson Bolos