RESIDENTS and other stakeholders are working to get drainage right-of-way and funds to implement a three-year-old drainage plan aimed to solve flooding in four adjoining barangays in the cities of Mandaue and Cebu.
A representative of Fuman Industries, which occupies a lot in area, said the company supports the initiative but they need to know more about the plan before they give up a portion of their property for the drainage project.
“What we need is a concrete plan so we can weigh our options,” lawyer Reiner Apolinario, who represents the company, told the Banilad-Cabancalan-Talamban Communities Drainage Committee yesterday.
Committee chair Fr. Peru Dayag of the University of San Carlos said they also hope the Cebu City Council will approve a proposed budget of P30 million to acquire properties where the proposed drainage system will pass through.
Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north district), who sent a representative to the meeting held at the Cabancalan Barangay Hall, also committed to look for funds from the National Government to implement the drainage project.
Various stakeholders, including the City Governments of Cebu and Mandaue, agreed to conduct a P2-million study to address flooding in Barangays Banilad and Cabancalan in Mandaue City and Barangays Talamban and Banilad in Cebu City.
Help from donors
In an interview, Dayag said the study was completed in 2012, but they have yet to fully pay for services of consultants hired for the project.
They have so far raised P1.6 million, with the San Miguel Corp. and the Metropolitan Cebu Water District as major donors.
Major subdivisions like the Maria Luisa Estate Park and the Sto. Niño Village and other establishments also contributed, as well as residents in affected communities.
“This is a people’s initiative. This is to help the government look for a solution to the problem of flooding in these areas,” said Dayag.
The City Governments of Cebu and Mandaue provided technical services needed for the detailed engineering study.
Other signatories of the initiative include the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the University of San Carlos-Water Resources Center Foundation Inc.
Dayag said efforts to build a drainage system to address flooding in the area date back to the 1980s.
Structures overstepping on natural waterways, he added, contribute to flooding in these areas.