Work on Leyte ‘storm surge shield’ under way

TACLOBAN CITY (PNA)– Work on nine subsections of the 17.9-billion storm surge protection road heightening and tide embankment project in Leyte has started, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported Thursday.

The construction under Section 4 covers 7.80 kilometers of seawall in parts of San Jose district in this city,and Candahug, Macarthur Memorial Landing National Park, Baras, and Cogon villages in Palo town.

The government set aside 12.38 billion for the nine subsections.

The four-meter wide structure is designed as a bicycle lane, DPWH Eastern Visayas Regional Director Edgar Tabacon said in a phone interview.

The DPWH divided the project into six sections with 30 subsections. Other sections have not yet started due to ongoing detailed engineering, feasibility, alignments, and public consultations.

“For sections 1 and 2, there are proposals to make the tide embankment as alternative road. It’s not yet approved because we are considering the technical, social, environmental and economic aspects,” Tabacon said.

The agency will bid out within this year the 1700 million for section 6 in Tanauan town. Bidded out earlier was the 11.2 billion for parts of Sections 5 and 6.

The project, which has been described as Leyte’s “Great Wall,” was supposed to prioritize the coastal communities from the Tacloban Astrodome to San Jose, but it was put in hold pending the relocation of families within the danger zones.

The 27.3-kilometer project stretches from Diit village in Tacloban to Cabuynan village in Tanauan town. Sections 1 to 3 are in Tacloban, section 4 are the coastal villages of Tacloban and Palo, section 5 are some areas in Palo and Tanauan, and section 6 in Tanauan town.

The project will protect 33.7 square meters of properties and 33,185 houses and buildings.

The four-meter high structure was pushed through by the previous administration after the 2013 storm surges wipe out entire neigborhoods in Leyte province.