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Sunday, August 3, 2008

GMA vows to make San Roque Dam priority

ROSALES–Another SONA. Another promise.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in her eighth State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered Monday, listed the re-regulating pond component of the San Roque Dam as among the administration's priority projects.

“With her announcement that makes it already official”, said 6th District Rep. Conrado Estrella III in an interview with The PUNCH.

However, no specific timetable was given by Arroyo who has two years left in office.

The re-regulating pond component involves development related to flood control, potable water system, irrigation and tourism that will benefit not just Pangasinan but the neighboring provinces of Tarlac and Nueva Ecija as well.

Estrella said he discussed the project with some key Cabinet officials during their trip to the United States as part of the President's entourage on her official visit.

He said he proposed to source the funding for the project through a loan but Arroyo promised to just include it in the national budget for faster implementation.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya has assured that P2 billion will be listed in the 2009 General Appropriations Act (GAA) for the project estimated to cost P5 billion, according to Estrella.

The remaining P3 billion will be sourced from loans with foreign funding agencies.

The re-regulating pond will be a storage for the water discharged by the San Roque power plant from its energy production which in turn will be diverted to irrigate some 70,000 hectares of farmlands in eastern and central Pangasinan, as well as in Nueva Ecija and Tarlac.

"Imagine if we could have three cropping seasons in these areas a year, how much would we be contributing to our food supply?," Estrella said.

Tied to the construction of the re-regulating pond are structures for flood control, water supply for some towns, and a tourism complex.

The re-regulating pond was not part of the plan when the San Roque Multi Purpose Project, completed in 2003, was packaged under a build-operate-transfer scheme.

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