While counting the days to his return to private life, President Benigno has taken time to inspect some of the big infrastructure projects implemented during his administration.
On May 26, the President went to Ipo Dam in Bulacan to oversee the progress of a project that would improve Metro Manila’s potable water supply. He also visited another project at the Balog-Balog Dam in his home province of Tarlac that would boost farm irrigation, then proceeded to a solar farm in Cabanatuan City.
At the Ipo Dam, the President unveiled the P3.3-billion water transmission project that would improve the delivery of water from Bulacan to Metro Manila through the upgrading of a decades-old tunnel from Ipo to Angat dams.
The Angat Water Transmission Improvement Project (AWTIP) in Ipo Dam, located in Norzagaray, is a project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS). The project involves the design and construction of a new tunnel, called Tunnel No. 4, which is necessary to mitigate the risk of disruption of water supply to Metro Manila.
Expected to be finished by 2020, AWTIP aims to ensure sustained and secured water supply for Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan and portions of Cavite, that would benefit an estimated 14 million people, MWSS said.
In San Jose, Tarlac, the President launched the Balog-Balog Multipurpose Project Phase II. The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said the project involves the construction of an earth-fill dam at the upper Bulsa River as well as irrigation canals and structures.
An estimated 23,000 farmers from the towns of Paniqui, Pura, Ramos, Victoria, Gerona, San Jose, La Paz, Capas and Concepcion and Tarlac City would benefit from the project. BBMP II will also be used for flood control, inland fish production and power generation of 43.5 megawatts.
In Cabanatuan City, the President inaugurated the 10-megawatt solar farm project of the First Cabanatuan Renewable Venture Inc.
