River dredging project gets support

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

KAGAY-ANON Senator Aquilino Pimentel III is reportedly backing up the proposed P250-million dredging project of Cagayan de Oro Representative Jose Benjamin Benaldo (1st District).

This, after Benaldo cried foul over the alleged “unfair treatment” of the National Government in approving budget requests, which reportedly prioritized lawmakers from Luzon, during a summit on disaster risk reduction and geo-hazard awareness held in Cagayan de Oro over the weekend.

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Pimentel said he will support Benaldo’s proposal to dredge the Cagayan de Oro and Iponan rivers because it would protect the people of the city.

He said he would also put up mitigating measures to prevent another flood from happening again.

“I would be fair in approving projects. The project is only P250 million for the two rivers as compared to Luzon, which was given P4 billion for the dredging after Typhoon Ondoy,” he said.

The project also includes the construction of dams along the Cagayan de Oro River and the construction of dikes along the riverbanks.

Benaldo said the dam will be patterned after Camiguin Island that makes use of a revetment technique that would filter the soil and trees from silting the river.

“An alarm system will also be set up in the upstream of the river to warn the people that danger is coming. When completed, this project will serve as precautionary measure for future floods in the city, as well as to give confidence to the residents living near the riverbanks,” Benaldo said.

Earlier, Secretary Rogelio Singson of the Department of Public Works and Highways said the P250-million budget is already under the Special Allocation Release Order (Saro).

Once the Saro will be released, Benaldo said he would immediately start the dredging project.