Korean Ambassador Choi Joong-kyung Friday presented to Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado and National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Region 7 Manager Modesto Membreve the feasibility study and detailed design for the improvement of the Malinao Dam in Pilar town.
Resident representative Kim In of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica) assisted the ambassador in the handover rites held at the Tarsier Room of the Bohol Beach Club in the resort island of Panglao.
The dam is the main component of the Bohol Irrigation Project Stage 1 (BHIP 1). The study and the detailed design seek to increase the dam height by two meters that would automatically double the reservoir capacity from five million to 10 million cubic meters.
In his welcome message, Aumentado thanked Choi, Kim who signed with the governor and then NIA Administrator Marcelino Tugaoen a year ago the records of discussion whereby Korea will donate US$1 million for the conduct of the study and detailed design, President Man-Hwan Park of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) for providing the funds and Dr. Kim Yung Jin and his team from the Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-water) who conducted the study.
For his part, Choi who punctuated his handover speech with sentences and phrases in Tagalog and Cebuano said the funding and preparation of the study and detailed design are gestures of support and friendship especially now that the Philippines and Korea are celebrating the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations and cooperation.
The ambassador said his country especially remembers that during the Korean war, 112 young “sundalong Filipino†or Filipino soldiers valiantly fought side by side with their counterparts and sacrificed their lives to protect the freedom and democracy of Korea.
“We were good friends before – and that friendship has produced this tie-up – a combination of Filipino potentials and Korean development expertise,†Choi said.
He added that he had been to Subic where some 15,000 Filipinos work at the shipyard of foremost Korean firm Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co., Ltd. - by the Bohol Chronicle
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