Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Irrigation District On Its Way

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BOGOTÁ, Jan 6 2007 (IPS) - Irrigation district on its way in Colombia… The Colombian Institute for Rural Development (INCODER) is to undertake construction of the Triángulo de Tolima land development project (in the central province of the same name), with an investment of 150 million dollars.

Germán Molina, INCODER coordinator in Tolima province, told Tierramérica that this will be the biggest project of its kind in the country, after the southern irrigation district of Ranchería which is currently under construction.

The project will benefit some 45,000 people who live on 24,000 hectares in the south of the province that will be cultivable under irrigation. Eleven thousand of the beneficiaries are indigenous people, Molina added.

The Environment ministry awarded the environmental permit for the project to INCODER on Dec. 27. The Institute will be in charge of providing infrastructure, operation, maintenance, land preparation, sowing and irrigation.