President Marcos ordered the construction of more high dams as a “long-term solution” to the water supply problem, the National Irrigation Authority said Tuesday.
NIA administrator Eduardo Guillen said they aim to complete at least 50 dams by 2028, with 10 dams in the pipeline this year.
“Our President’s directive, which is what we are doing right now, is to build additional dams…The dams we rely on now were built 50 years and unfortunately we have not built other projects since then,” Guillen said.
“What the President wants is for us to shift from flood control to water management,” he added.
Guillen said some of the existing big dams in the country, such as the Magat and Pantabangan, are already aging.
“What the President wants now is for us to build high dams so that we will have a long-term solution. When you have a high dam, you have a flood control, you have irrigation, you have power generation, aquaculture. What more can you ask? So, this is the focus of our President,” he said.
Guillen said there are three to five big dam projects that the government is looking to finish before the President’s term ends in 2028, including the Tumauini River Multipurpose Project in Cagayan Valley, the Panay River Basin in Panay Island, and other projects in the Ilocos Region.