Chico River project seen aggravating lack of water
BAGUIO CITY—An alliance of indigenous people’s (IP) groups in the Cordillera has assailed the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project (CRPIP) that they believed would worsen water shortage in Kalinga and nearby provinces.
Windel Bolinget, chair of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, said the China-funded CRPIP is not feasible and sustainable under the overall development plan in the Chico River.
The Chico River is the most extensive river in the Cordillera region, which traverses the provinces of Mountain Province, Kalinga and Cagayan.
Many communities along the Chico River banks depend on the water in the river for irrigation of farmlands and for domestic use.
The river’s potential for generating electric power has made it a target of numerous hydropower projects, including the World Bank-funded Chico Dam Project in the 1970s-1980s.
3-year project
The P4.3-billion CRPIP, which will be completed in three years, included six electric pumps at Barangay Katabbogan that can draw 3,800 liters per second.
This was expected to irrigate 7,150 hectares in Tuao town and 380 ha in Piat town, both in Cagayan, and 1,170 ha in Pinukpuk, Kalinga.
But Bolinget said the CRPIP would fail in irrigating two barangays in Kalinga and 19 barangays in Cagayan province because of the presence of 10 hydropower projects along the Chico River.
“These dam projects will disturb the natural flow of the Chico River and during the dry season, most of the water will be stored in the dam reservoirs, which in turn will worsen the scarcity of water supply in the downstream area including where the CRPIP will operate,” Bolinget said in a recent statement.
Bolinget said Kalinga farmers were currently suffering from agricultural damages due to lack of irrigation water since the volume of water in the Chico River has declined because of drought.
CRPIP is the first flagship infrastructure project to be financed by China under President Duterte’s ambitious Build, Build, Build program. —Kimberlie Quitasol
