Dredging in Maguindanao waterways to start soon

COTABATO CITY – The massive and continuing dredging of waterways, including swamps in Maguindanao, will start soon with the impending acquisition by the provincial government of a fleet of excavating equipment to prevent frequent floods in the province, officials announced yesterday.

This was disclosed during the signing of an agreement between the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and the provincial government of Maguindanao last week for the release of a 200-million fund for the purchase of 24 heavy equipment units that will be utilized to remedy perennial flooding in most areas of the province.

Lined up for delivery by suppliers chosen after a stringent bidding process were two cutter suction dredgers, two motor graders, three crawler excavators, ten dump trucks, two vibratory roller-compactors, a truck-mounted concrete pump, and three cement transit mixers, provincial budget office chief Lynette Estandarte told the Bulletin.

At their signing held in Buluan town last Wednesday, LBP head for Central Mindanao Harold Celestial and Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said the P200-million fund would be released this week, during which the delivery to the provincial government of the 24 heavy equipment units would follow.

“Our engineering workers will subject the heavy equipment units to a dry run and proceed immediately to areas with known heavily silted rivers and swamps,” the governor said in a text message yesterday.

He said there will be “no let-up” in the dredging operations under until rivers and swamps in the province are cleared of flood-causing silts and periodic follow-up dredging works are sustained, he said.

Maguindanao has the largest share of the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Marsh, Mindanao’s largest water basin, which spills enormous amounts of flood waters to low-lying towns during heavy downpours. Other provinces with boarders located in the huge marsh are North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and parts of South Cotabato and Davao del Sur.

The national government, through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and in coordination with the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), has programmed more than 6 billion in funds for the rehabilitation of the Liguasan Delta for implementation next year and beyond.

But the people of Maguindanao, which literally means “land of flooded plains, would want immediate local efforts to end their “cycle of evacuations” during rainy days, said provincial officials who opted to avail of the loan.