Flood control work ongoing

With the onset of the rainy season, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Cebu City District is prioritizing the widening of rivers and creeks among its 42 flood control projects for this year. City District Engineer Nicomedes Leonor told SunStar Cebu that their major areas of concern are along the Estero Parian in Barangay Tinago and the Mahiga Creek in Barangay Mabolo.

“We made sure to work first on these areas because the existing widths of these rivers are getting narrower. The places have already turned into outfalls, meaning they cause flooding in the nearby areas when there is just normal rain because the water flow is limited,” he said.

Aside from the expansion of rivers, Leonor said work is also ongoing in Barangays Tinago, Camputhaw, Lahug and Pit-os, among others.

He said each of the flood mitigation projects has a budget of at least P40 million and is funded by the national government. The projects are targeted to finish by December, or in the first few months of 2018 at the latest.

Except for some minor problems with permits for road right-of-way acquisition, there are no delays in the implementation of the projects, Leonor said. For this year, the DPWH Central Visayas set aside P3.7 billion worth of infrastructure projects that aim to reduce flooding in areas in Central Visayas.