ILOILO – The P11.2-billion Jalaur River Multipurpose Project – Stage II (JRMP II) in Calinog town may be operational by the first quarter of 2024, according to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) in Region 6.
The mega dam’s completion is actually targeted by 2023, according to Engineer Jonel Borres, acting project manager of JRMP II, “then we will wait for one rainy season for the storage po ng tubig natin.”
As of end-March this year, the dam was 37.83 percent complete, Borres revealed in a virtual briefing and updating called by Ilonggo senator Franklin Drilon.
“We’re ahead by 6.11 percent as against the 31.71 percent target,” Borres said.
JRMP started in the 1960s after the fourth Congress passed Republic Act 2651 which mandated its construction. Its first phase was completed in the 1980s but its second phase was derailed due to lack of funds.
JRMP II includes the construction of a 109-meter Jalaur high dam, 38.5-meter afterbay dam, 10-meter Alibunan catch dam, and 80.74-kilometer high line canal.
Once completed, Borres said, JRMP II would greatly impact not just the Ilonggos, but also Western Visayans, in terms of agricultural productivity. Rice production in Iloilo is projected to double – from the current 140,000 metric tons to 300,000 metric tons per year.
Borres also said the mega dam project would positively affect employment and generate 6.6-megawatt hydroelectric power and up to 86 million liters per day of bulk water for the province and city of Iloilo.
Eco-cultural tourism opportunities also await Ilonggos as a 750-hectare lake is being developed in the construction site.
To mitigate flooding, construction of canals and siphons in the towns of Calinog, Lambunao, Janiuay, and Cabatuan for the 81-kilometer high line canal that will traverse nine towns of Iloilo province is also underway as part of the mega dam project.
Contractor Daewoo Engineering and Construction of South Kore is also working on the foundation of the 109-meter Jalaur high dam that will serve as an impounding dam.
“We just hope that there would be no more delays,” said Drilon who lobbied for the project during the administration of then President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.
JRMP II is the biggest single public infrastructure project in the history of Iloilo, Drilon stressed, and a flagship project of NIA in the Visayas.
It would be the largest water reservoir outside Luzon when completed.
“This project was started way back 2011 or 2012 and sampung taon na, 2021 ngayon. We have to wait for another three years, so (this is) 13 years in the making. We do hope this would be finished on time because marami po ang naghihintay nito and marami tayong kababayan na matutulongan,” Drilon added.
The project’s ground breaking was in February 2019.
It was the Ilonggo senator who personally worked on the funding of the multi-purpose dam when he went to Seoul, Korea in April 2011.
The Korean government, through the Export-Import Bank’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund, extended a loan for $208 million under its Official Development Assistance program.
The loan agreement was signed in 2012./PN
