DEPW to construct drainage in ‘flooded’ sitios

THE Cebu City’s Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) is set to restore the waterways of three frequently flooded areas.

This after Mayor Edgardo Labella was asked by residents in those flooded areas for an immediate solution to their plight.

Kenneth Carmelita Enriquez, who heads the DEPW, said they cannot rely on regularly suctioning the frequently flooded areas in Barangays Kinasang- an, Pardo and Talamban due to its large area and due to the presence of improperly arranged residential units there.

“It is hard if we suction it one by one. And if there is rain, we have to do it again,” Enriquez told reporters on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020.

Engineerr Guillermo Viola, head of the DEPW’s drainage planning division, said that suctioning those three areas also costs the City around P3,000 per day, mostly spent on manpower and fuel for their equipment.

For the flooded area in Sitio Tabucanal, Barangay Pardo, the ultimate solution is to restore and reconstruct its waterway even though houses have already encroached there, he added.

“The solution to Tabucanal (Pardo) concern is really to reconstruct its waterway. The ultimate solution is to restore its natural waterway,” said Enriquez.

For the meantime, Enriquez said they will identify a waterway that would serve as temporary outfall but it would mean those living on it will have to give way.

Enriquez said they still have to verify if it is an urban poor settlement, which requires concurrence from the Division on the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) for changes in the arrangement of the housing units to construct a waterway.

As for Sitio Paradise 3 in Kinasang-an, Enriquez said they have to talk to the two nearby establishments which would be affected if they proceed with the construction of a temporary drainage outfall.

The waterway will go through the establishments all the way to the Tagunol creek, she added.

But the long-term solution for Sitio Paradise 3, according to Enriquez, is to open a waterway through the two affected establishments or to construct drainage wide enough to declog the area.

As for Barangay Talamban, the DEPW will need to coordinate with the Mandaue City Government since it needs to enlarge the drainage pipe situated within Mandaue’s territorial jurisdiction to declog the area.

Enriquez said they still have to design the waterways and that the implementation will depend on the available funds.

Once the supplemental budget is given, the waterways project will be implemented immediately.

The three projects could be finished within a year or two, Enriquez said.

The DEPW is currently finalizing the budgetary estimates that it will submit to Labella on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020.

For now, the DEPW is still conducting daily massive declogging in the three flooded areas.

Viola said garbage contributes around 80 percent to the clogging. (USJ-R Journ Intern Mae Fhel Gom-os)

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