DRAINAGE projects in the severely flood-prone areas of A.S. Fortuna St. in Barangay Banilad, Mandaue City, are now being initiated by the Mandaue City Government.
Mayor Jonas Cortes said on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022, that the projects will focus on road widening and adding new outfalls.
The projects were launched on Monday, Dec. 19.
The improvements will cover the areas along Cebu Rolling Hills Memorial Chapels Inc. and LH Prime Medical Clinic in Barangay Banilad stretching all the way to the outfall in Mahiga Creek, Barangay Subangdaku.
Cortes said they hope the effects of the projects in mitigating the area’s perennial flood problem will be felt as soon as next year, 2023.
He said they are closely coordinating with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to help with the projects considering the large amount of money that will be spent to complete them.
In a separate interview on Friday, Dec. 23, John Eddu Ibañez, Cortes’ chief of staff, said the City will shoulder at least P26 million for Phase 1 (P11 million) and Phase 2 (P15 million) of the project.
Cortes has called on the National Government to allocate appropriate funds for the project’s full completion.
“These were supposed to be nationally funded by the MCDP (Metro Cebu Development Project), but it was unfinished. So we will convince the national government if they could allocate enough funds so that a solution to this problem (flood) will be given,” said Cortes.
He added that as much as the city government would want to shoulder all the funds needed to expedite the projects’ implementation, they could not afford it as other services in the city would be compromised.
“We have allocations in our other services that we could not compromise,” said Cortes.
Submerged
Last August, parts of A.S. Fortuna St. were submerged in chest-deep waters following a downpour, stalling traffic and posing a risk to public health and safety.
Banilad Barangay Captain Greg Yap then appealed to Cortes and Mandaue City Lone District Rep. Emmarie “Lolypop” Ouano-Dizon to address the worsening flood situation in the area and come up with concrete solutions.
Gonzalo Malig-on, Dizon’s chief of staff, said they will wait for the City’s request if the City needs the congresswoman’s help for fund allocation.
“We need to know officially to avoid duplication of the projects,” said Malig-on.