Drainage works go full swing

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2016/12/07/drainage-works-go-full-swing-513938
• Friday, December 9, 2016

By Elias O. Baquero

THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) yesterday said more drainage projects will be implemented in strategic areas in Cebu City to solve lingering floods during rainy days.

District Engr. Nicomedes Leonor, of the DPWH Cebu City Engineering District, said the drainage projects in Barangay Mabolo and D. Jakosalem St. are ongoing and may be completed early next year.

Leonor said these projects were facilitated by Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City North) and were funded in 2015 yet.

But these were delayed because Cebu City Hall refused to issue permits during the time of then mayor Michael Rama.

Leonor said the huge drainage project on Colon St. is now ready for implementation, but the contractor might be able to proceed by the end of January 2017 yet because of the “policy of no excavation” from Dec. 15, 2016 to January 2017 because of the Christmas season and Sinulog.

Leonor said the construction/rehabilitation of flood control structures on Juan Luna Ave., Mabolo, Cebu City is undertaken by contractor, Pragmatic Construction and Development Corp. The cost of the project is P58.3 million and the system is 1.5 kilometers long.

On the other hand, Leonor said the rehabilitation/reconstruction/upgrading of damaged paved national roads (National Secondary Road-Colon Street) is contracted by WTG Construction and Development Corp.

This project is funded by DPWH in the amount of P36.9 million with a length 192 linear meters.

Flooding Last July 1, Metro Cebu received a 55-mm. rainfall that caused flooding in various areas in Mandaue City, Cebu City and Talisay City, halting traffic for hours and stranded thousands of commuters.

Al Quiblat, chief of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Administration (Pagasa) in Mactan, said that the 55-mm. rainfall last July 1 was considered normal, compared to the daily volume during the rainy season in the last 30 years.

However, the floodis occurred due to inadequate drainage systems. This has prompted Presidential Assistant Michael Lloyd Dino to call a stakeholders’ meeting with the Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board (MCDCB) and DPWH Secretary Mark Villar last July 6.

They listened to complaints and suggestions in connection with the July 1 flood.

Meeting Dino, who informed President Rodrigo Duterte about floods, also ordered Villar to meet with the private sector leaders, mayors and Cebu congressmen so he will know their problems.

In that meeting, Villar promised to the Cebuanos that DPWH will implement the short-term solution to declog the drainage systems, and implement huge drainage projects in the long term.