BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – The operation
of the Casecnan multipurpose irrigation and power project along the border of
Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Ecija has been blamed for the diminishing population of
ludong, said to be the country’s most expensive fish, in this province.
The Bureau of
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said the continuous operation of the
Casecnan project has caused the gradual drying up of the Casecnan and Taan
Rivers in Alfonso Castañeda town
here.
Constructed during the
Ramos administration under a build-operate-transfer deal with the California
Energy and Water Company, the $580-million Casecnan project has been in
operation for the last 13 years.
The project siphons
water from the Taan and Casecnan rivers to the Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija
for the irrigation needs of more than 200,000 hectares of farmland in Central
Luzon and parts of Western Pangasinan.
The project generates
at least 100 megawatts of electricity to augment the power requirement of the
Luzon grid.
The two rivers used to
be one of the major habitats of ludong in northern Luzon, according to Jovita Ayson,
BFAR director for Cagayan Valley.
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