Like a broken record (1)
IT is the typhoon season again and as usual many of our city streets from Metro Manila to Cebu City and Davao are flooded. As usual the officials in charge of flood control make the usual statements that they are talking to the “usual” countries about possible flood control projects to mitigate the “usual” floods.
In Cebu City, the Cebuanos have engaged in ridicule in the hope that the yearly floods in their main streets of President Osmeña and Colon will be solved. They now call the floods the Osmeña perpetual lake. In other parts of the city there are also floods; likewise in Mandaue City. During my kindergarten years, I don’t remember seeing any flood in Colon street. Neither in the reclaimed waterfront area of Cebu. There was only a small portion of reclaimed area beside Pier 3 of the Cebu Harbor. Now the reclaimed waterfront is from Mandaue City, Cebu City, up to Talisay City.
Among many factors that have caused the floods are – I have said this before, like a broken record – canals becoming shallow because of garbage thrown by squatters, canals becoming narrow because the selfish riparian owners move their boundaries, rivers and canals are disappearing because of greed… and there is lack of political will of public officials to enforce the law. In Metro Cebu as in Metro Manila, traffic is bad during the dry season. Imagine how far worse it becomes during the rainy season!
There has been no real urban planning in the Metro area before the people came in to settle in the housing sites. How could anyone solve the problem of floods and traffic after the buildings are built? In fairness to some private urban land companies, it is only their developments that have been the subject of planning and infrastructure construction even before the lots were sold. The rest of cities and towns in our country have sprouted in a “build as you like” manner in spite of all the permit requirements.
The P21-billion flood control for Metro Manila, like the 9.2 Kilometer Paranaque spillway tunnel project – how will they help the other flooded areas? Which of the areas have priority in order to have faster implementation of the overall flood plan? I assume that there is such a masterplan. Which of the plans can be implemented? Which has the wider coverage of the flood plain? At the least cost?
Of what use is the flood control project if it is not complimentary to the road network plan to decrease the traffic congestion in Metro Manila and suburbs? How about future needs for water – for industry, human consumption, and for agricultural use? Is the flood control plan part of the overall “melding” of the road and transportation network, i.e. LRT-MRT, airports, flood control, and all of the abovementioned needs? If not? Why not?