Council seeks drainage master reports
The Cebu City Council last Wednesday called on concerned City Hall departments to provide thorough reports on the city's drainage master plan, after a legislator claimed that it has been in limbo despite having been made years ago.
This was unanimously agreed upon following a resolution filed by Councilor Nestor Archival, who requested the City’s Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW), through Engr. Lilibeth del Mar, to submit a copy of the “Flood Mitigation and Drainage Study” for Cebu City, preferably on or before Feb. 14.
He likewise requested for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-7’s Unified Project Management Office to provide a copy of documents, such as the complete set of documents of the “Drainage Master Plan of Metro Cebu” and a timeline of the implementation of its “Detailed Engineering Design”.
In a telephone interview, Archival said that since flooding is among the major problems of Cebu City, it is just right that it must not be dealt in "piecemeal."
"Kay kung ang usa ka barangay ga-flooding, unya atong i-piecemeal, atong i-correct ang iyang problema sa drainage, like tagakan nato iyang mga culvert, posibilidad ana, ang diha nga area, masulbad, ang sunod nga barangay maigo sa problema, mo-transfer iyang problema sa pikas," said Archival.
He said the piecemeal approach will not cure the root cause of flooding but is merely a band-aid solution.
During a previous executive session, Archival said DPWH-7 disclosed that they made a study to mitigate the flooding in the city.
He said it is important that the council will be able to get a copy of the study, particularly so that the body could be apprised on the items that the City may be able to do should the budget requirement is not met.
“Ang katong area nga mabutangan sa budget, mao atong unahon but ang actual nga plano ang maoy sundon,” Archival said.
He said the fight against flooding in the city must not be solely entrusted to DEPW to ensure, for example, that the right sizes of culverts, as based from the drainage master plan, are used, so as to avoid wasting funds.
Aside from this, he said, the plan would allow those who would manage the projects to be guided accordingly.
Archival said the flooding problem has already been mapped out years ago yet project implementation has been delayed.
Engr. Earl Carlo Escanuela, DPWH-7 Unified Project Management Office representative had presented a drainage master plan that required P8.2 billion in funding.
Archival said they have known that DEPW officials and personnel have been regularly changed through the years the drainage master plan was no longer laid out as blueprint for the office’s drainage projects.
“’Nya katong actual plano nga gi-submit sa contractor, wala silay plano, so nangadto na sad sila sa contractor. Kadako anang sayop,” he said.
He also said that DPWH-7’s and DEPW’s plans should align to make the drainage projects effective.