TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Some PhP 300 million had been earmarked by the public works department to continue the multi-year obligation and allotment that will allow the staggered completion of the P5.5 billion Chico River mega dike project envisioned to end the perennial flooding of agricultural farms in the lower barangays of the city and nearby Pinukpuk town
Rep. Allen Jesse C. Mangaoang said that the annual appropriation of funds for the priority works on the megadike project has been the strategy adopted by the public works department to ensure the realization of the project in the future.
Further, he claimed that it will also ensure the completion of major works while awaiting for the release of the results of the feasibility study conducted by the central office of the public works department to ascertain the estimated amount needed to complete the project and the duration of its implementation.
The 3-term lawmaker said that the feasibility study of the Chico River mega dike project has already been completed but the results are still to be released by the agency thus local officials are eagerly awaiting the findings and recommendations from the study to guarantee the completion of the project.
Mangaoang stipulated that the completion of the mega dike project will solve permanently the perennial flooding in the city’s lower barangays and the nearby town of Pinukpuk by holistically addressing the flooding problem in the said areas instead of unnecessarily wasting public funds through stop-gap measures, like the occasional dredging of the river system.
The agency, together with the office of Rep. Mangaoang, started the implementation of the Chico River megadike project in 2017 with funds being allocated by the public works department annually to implement the project in phases.
Initially, the megadike project, which is around 18 kilometers long and 300 meters wide, is supposed to be completed by 2025 but the delayed release of the results of the feasibility study caused the delay in the completion of the project, thus, this might go beyond 2025 depending on the funds to be appropriated by the public works department in the remaining years.
Some of the components of the project is an airport along the stretch of the megadike and a government and business center that will boost the chances of Kalinga becoming the regional center of the Cordillera and the establishment of the Eastern Kalinga growth center.
The Chico River system is the longest river system in the Cordillera that traces its headwaters to the Mount Data watershed in Bauko, Mountain Province then passes through Kalinga before spilling over to the Cagayan River, the longest river system in Northern Luzon.
Mangaoang stipulated that the public works department will increase its annual appropriations to the project to allow a bigger portion of the project to be finished in the next several years for people to enjoy its benefits once the perennial flooding in the lower places will be reduced.
