DPWH responsible for flood control projects — MMDA

A case of barking up the wrong tree?

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) officer-in-charge Engr. Baltazar Melgar insisted Thursday that the implementation of flood control projects in the National Capital Region (NCR) is the responsibility of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Melgar clarified that the MMDA is only mandated to operate and maintain such flood control projects.

The MMDA official was reacting to a resolution filed by Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. that sought an investigation on the status and viability of the government’s existing and pending projects to ease flooding in the metro.

Said resolution summoned officials of both the DPWH and the MMDA to hearings in aid of legislation following the flash floods experienced in some NCR localities after heavy downpours over the weekend.

“The (flooding) problem seems to have gotten worse over the years, especially with climate change which evidently affected [worsened] natural calamities. Each passing year, we witness more roads getting flooded, and more people getting endangered,” Revilla said Tuesday.

He then tasked the DPWH and the MMDA to inform the Senate of their current efforts to mitigate flooding in the capital region.

Melgar said the volume of rainfall last Saturday at 79 millimeters of rainfall per hour was too much for the flood-control system of the DPWH designed only for 50mm of rainfall an hour.

While the volume of rainfall caused spillovers from the flood control system, the flooding on the streets quickly subsided, he said.

The MMDA official said there is an ongoing flood control project at the San Juan river pumping station — the construction of a retaining wall funded by the World Bank for $500 million.

That station, according to Melgar, had a spillover during the heavy rains Saturday. He also warned residents near waterways against throwing their garbage into rivers and creeks.

Melgar said the MMDA has been getting P1 billion in funding each year from the General Appropriations Act for flood-control-related activities like declogging small drainage systems and maintaining pumping stations.