Sunday, March 30, 2008 [ philstar.com ]
CALAPAN CITY – Rep. Rodolfo Valencia of Oriental Mindoro’s 1st District had allocate P160 million for the dredging and rehabilitation of major rivers and waterways in the province to prevent floods during rainy season.
Two dredging machines have been ordered from Finland while a secondhand dredging equipment had arrived recently.
Valencia, Governor Arnan Panaligan and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have coordinated efforts to get the secondhand dredging machine which was leased from a private contractor in Cavite.
A memorandum of agreement was forged by Valencia, Panaligan and DPWH officials in Oriental Mindoro to lease the dredging machine for P10 million.
Under the program dubbed as the “Desiltation and Rehabilitation of Major Rivers and River Outlets Using Two Dredging Machines From Finland,” Valencia has allotted P160 million for the rehabilitation and repair of local rivers to prevent floods.
Oriental Mindoro will acquire a “hydro dredgers” which will cost at least P17 million.
Based on research conducted by the provincial engineering office on previous calamities that hit the province, the worst disaster was the flood in Naujan where 24 barangays were submerged. Continued rains that lasted for one month caused the overflowing of the Mag-Asawang Tubig, the biggest river in the area, and flooded Naujan communities.
The Oriental Mindoro Sangguniang Panlalawigan a “state of calamity in many barangays in Calapan City, and the towns of Naujan, Victoria and Baco.
One of the engineering interventions to be implemented here is the dredging of the Mag-Asawang Tubig River and rechanneling of its tributaries.
The mouth of the Mag-Asawang Tubig River in Barangay San Antonio in Naujan is already silted and shallow which resulted in the flooding of many low-lying barangays.
______________________________________________________________________
