THE Davao City Ancillary Services Unit (ASU) and the City Engineer’s Office (CEO) have started the preparatory procedures for the rehabilitation of drainages along the city’s flood-prone areas.
ASU Head Paul Bermejo, in an interview with the media on Monday, June 26 said teams have been deployed from both ASU and CEO to assess the level of functionality of the reinforced concrete cylinder pipes (RCCP) in drainages to gauge the amount of work and determine the type of equipment needed to desilt them.
“Karong buntag magdala na og rodding equipment ang drainage team, unya pag-open nila sa manhole naa pud ang team sa City Engineer’s Office para mag-inventory sa mga RCCP o kadtong mga imbornal didto sa sulod kung pila na lang gyud ka percent ang nabilin (This morning, the drainage team will bring rodding equipment, then when they open the manhole, the team from the city Engineer’s Office will also be there to take inventory of the RCCPs or those sewers inside to see how much water can still flow through),” Bermejo said.
The teams will also be keeping an inventory of the existing RCCPs to determine whether these are still compatible with the new waterways put in place by recent projects from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
The ASU will be conducting the rodding assessment of drainages by batches of five areas until all frequently-flooded areas are assessed.
Three teams from ASU have been deployed, Bermejo said, two of which will be operating during the day and one at night.
Though no timeline has been given, Bermejo vowed the offices are determined to desilt the waterways as soon as possible.
“Urgent and important na siya tungod sa pag-ulan-ulan karon. Among gina-ensure nga ang Ancillary Services Unit, ang City Engineer's Office, og ang DPWH naga-collaborate permi sa pag-adress ani nga problema (This is urgent and important because of the rainy weather. We are making sure that the Ancillary Services Unit, City Engineer's Office, and the DPWH are always collaborating to address this problem),” he said.
Bermejo said the ASU and the CEO are working non-stop to keep the drainages clean and free from clogging. He asked all Dabawenyos to do their part by disposing their garbage properly and to abide by the city’s Solid Waste Management Ordinance.
“So ang akoang hangyo lang pud na unta mutabang ta sa city government sa pag-address ani nga problema pinaagi sa pagplastar sa atong mga basura so tumanon lang nato ang Solid Waste Management Act and kanang mga good practices kay aron dili maadto sa canal and eventually didto sa sapa og dagat ang atoang mga basura. (So my only request is that we help the city government to address this problem by disposing our garbage properly and we just follow the Solid Waste Management Act and those good practices to prevent our garbage from ending up in the canal and eventually in the river and the sea),” Bermejo said. CIO