Marikina allots P500M to mitigate flooding

The Marikina City government will be setting aside funds for the improvement of the city’s drainage network system in order to mitigate flooding in the city.

“Marikina City will allocate at least P500 million from its current funds for the purpose of constructing and rehabilitating the existing drainage system to improve its water carrying capacity and constructing a new drainage outfall with a correct elevation under the ‘new normal’ (of rain),” city mayor Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro told the Daily Tribune in an exclusive interview two days before the dredging activity.

“So, we’re hoping that all of these improvements will entice investors for Marikina in order the economy to be improved,” the mayor added.

Prior to this, the mayor has objected the alignment of the dredging project as he wanted the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to follow proper alignment. However, the scheduled kick off of dredging activity on Wednesday in Olandes, Barangay Industrial Valley Complex, was pushed through after his meeting with DENR secretary Roy Cimatu.

In the press conference during the simultaneous launch of dredging and bamboo tree planting activities on Wednesday, Teodoro said the local government will also acquire several heavy equipment and dredgers that can be used to continue the dredging activity.

Teodoro underscored the need to dredge Marikina River due to the natural siltation that happened in the river, saying “being a downstream river, of course, what is happening upstream will also affect downstream.”

We’re hoping that all of these improvements will entice investors for Marikina in order the economy to be improved.

“This is not simply a dredging activity on the part of the DPWH, but this is a Marikina River restoration activity, which will not be done only today or in the next 65 days but will be a sustainable activity,” the mayor emphasized.

Teodoro said they want to achieve at least four meters per second of water velocity for Marikina River in order to avoid flooding in low-lying communities in the city.

“Dredging will be done to widen the river, to deepen it, to get the correct ratio of the widening and the deepening of the river in order to improve the water carrying capacity of the Marikina River, and thus improving its water current velocity,” he said.

According to the Marikina mayor, they are likewise embarking on a joint undertaking in planting bamboos which is a suitable slope protection for the embankment of the river.

Marikina, he said, will build a one-hectare bamboo nursery in order for the city not to purchase bamboos anymore, and have a steady supply of bamboos they could plant near the river to prevent soil erosion.

“It is not something that we need to buy that will cost the government so much money, but something that we could cultivate together in a nursery and in the proper time we could plant together,” he said.

Teodoro said they are not only dredging but also restoring the Marikina River to its natural topography.

“Being a downstream river, a catch basin, a valley, it is natural that Marikina will be flooded, but the idea really is to mitigate through this activity by widening and deepening the water channel,” he said.

The mayor also noted they will further strengthen the city’s disaster response to avoid heavy flooding from occurring again in the future.

“A whole-of-government approach and a whole of society approach is imperative,” he said.

Teodoro also said that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority will restore a dike at the Provident Village in Barangay Tañong, which was damaged by typhoons.