The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) on Monday said investors from the private sector have pledged P1 trillion in investments for the construction of more irrigation facilities in the country.
During the hearing of the House Committee on Appropriations, NIA Administrator Benny Antiporda said the agency received P1 trillion pledges through public-private partnership or PPP.
Citing a master plan, Antiporda said 1.1 million hectares of land in different areas in the country need irrigation.
“Based on our master plan, 1.1 million hectares need to be irrigated and that will cost us P800 billion. The government cannot fund that [P800 billion alone], and with that we can only address this in coming up with very successful PPPs,” he explained.
“As of this moment, we have received investment pledges coming from different investors of about P1 trillion,” he added.
Antiporda also assured that project preparation activities are continuously being undertaken to have a wider base for the selection of projects for implementation and these include project identification, investigations, feasibility studies, plan formulation, project packaging, and detailed engineering.
But the NIA official admitted that long feasibility studies have affected the implementation of several irrigation projects.
“We are recalling all feasibility studies [on constructions of irrigations], which have been lingering with consultancy firms, [we are now investigating them]. After our investigation, cases will be filed against them,” he said.
For 2023, NIA will receive P41.5 billion, higher than its P32.1 billion allocation for 2022.
NIA accounts for the bulk of the budget for the Department of Agriculture’s attached corporations.
The 2023 budget of NIA is a subsidy for operating requirements of the agency, including: right-of-way and feasibility studies; other irrigation sub programs in support of the program beneficiaries development component of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program; expenses related to the implementation of the National Irrigation System and Communal Irrigations System and Special Irrigation Sub-Program for small irrigation projects.