Bikol's Biggest Dam Construction Under Way

LUPI, Camarines Sur, June 11  -- The P1.9-billion Libmanan-Cabusao Dam Project (LCDP) under the Bicol River Basin and Watershed Management Project (BRBWMP) is currently underway as engineers and construction workers of A.M. Oreta Co. Inc. have started working on it since May 24, 2009.

Bikol's biggest dam is scheduled to be completed within 540 calendar days.

Assistant Secretary Tomasito Monzon, presidential assistant for Bikol and concurrent BRBWMP project director bared this last Monday (June 8) during a meeting here with Lupi town Mayor Raul Matamorosa.

Those who attended the meeting were Matamorosa, Sipocot Mayor Theresa dela Pena, Libmanan Mayor Rodolfo Jimenez Sr., and Cabusao Mayor Totoy Genova, whose towns will be benefited and affected by the project.

Other guests were officials of National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), National Housing Authority (NHA), and Lawyer Melvin Rillo, chief of staff of Congressman Dato Arroyo.

During the meeting, Engr. Raffy Estrellas, project engineer of A.M. Oreta, said they expected to finish on Thursday the 1.96-kilometer access road leading to the dam site.

"By July, our personnel and heavy equipment will come in and we will start work on the dam site."

Monzon told the mayors that NIA Administrator Carlos Salazar was instructed to order the contractor to work on the dam project on a 24-hour, seven-days a week schedule.

The President might come anytime to see for herself the progress of works on the dam, Monzon said.

The Libmanan-Cabusao roadway covered the constructions of an 11.3-meters, 150-m. wide concrete dam along Sipocot River in barangay Malaguico, Sipocot, Camarines Sur; a 10.20-kilometers main canal that will convey the water from the dam to the existing canal of the Libmanan-Cabusao Pump Irrigation System (LCPIS) including a 10.75-kilometer service road; construction-repair of new and existing irrigation drainage structures and facilities.

NIA has scheduled the bidding of the link canal and service road, the rehabilitation of new and existing structures of LCPIS.

The A.M. Oreta Co. Inc. won the contract in building the dam during a bidding held at the NIA central office, Quezon City in September 2008.

Monzon said LCDP would increase the number of beneficiaries of the LCPIS from the present 1,686 farmers to 3,005 farmers. It will also expand the irrigation service of existing pump irrigation systems in Libmanan and Cabusao towns from 2,900 hectares to 4,000 hectares of rice lands.

The completion of LCDP will increase the annual net production value of the farmer-beneficiaries from P207.5 million to P593.6 million, Monzon said.

The dam will replace the four units of 250-horsepower engines and pumps that presently irrigate some 2,195 hectares of ricelands in Libmanan and Cabusao towns. NIA spends some P7 million annually just for the fuel and oil of the pump engines. (PNA)