Principles of Project Formulation for Irrigation and Drainage Projects
Engineer Amadeo Montejo, Samar Provincial Irrigation Officer, said that years after the project had been put on hold because of budgetary constraints, construction of the P700-million Basey irrigation project has commenced and is now in full swing
Montejo disclosed that with the release last year of P350 million, construction of the irrigation project was continued by 12 contractors who won in the bidding.
He also said that the P16 million irrigation dam at Bugasan river has already been finished and construction of the 24-kilometer main canal from the dam to the irrigation site is now under way.
Development Dynamics in Command Areas of Major Irrigation Project
Montejo added that about nine kilometers of the main canal have been concreted already and that by the end of 2010 in the early part of next year, concreting of the entire 24-kilometer main canal is expected to be fully complete.
Montejo further disclosed that after the concreting of the main canal, what will follow will be the construction and concreting of the lateral canals at the irrigation sites or in the respective rice fields that will eventually serve the needed water by the rice farmers during the cropping season.
Land settlement planning for improved irrigation management: A case study of the Kirindi Oya Irrigation and Settlement Project (Country paper, Sri Lanka)
The irrigation official pointed out that his office is targeting the period covering next year's cropping season, that is, from May to September 2011 for the irrigation of some 1,000 hectares a third of the 3,000-hectare irrigable area of the project.
Basey Mayor Wilfredo Estorninos said total irrigable land in his municipality is about 6,000 hectares. However, he said, not all such irrigable rice lands will be irrigated by the project. He added that the irrigation project will benefit some 3,000 rice farmers in his municipality.
Estorninos informed that the project was started in the early part of the 1990s, during the administration of then President Fidel V. Ramos, with the latter proclaiming it one of his flagship projects, but was temporarily stopped due to lack of funds. ''We are glad that this project is now on its full construction phase and will soon serve the rice farmers of my town,'' said t he Basey Mayor
