[ Manila Bulletin Online ] June 2, 2008
By DANNY JUNCO
BINANGONAN, Rizal — In an effort to solve the flood problem in Rizal’s first district, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has set aside a P7-billion budget.
Engineer Charlie Bautista, planning chief of the DPWH-Manggahan Project Management Office (MPMO), said that the budget is about to be released by the main DPWH office in Port Area, Manila.
Bautista said that the flood-control project, which is being handled by the DPWH-MPMO in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), will start in 2010.
Rizal’s first district, composed of the towns of Binangonan, Angono, Taytay, and Cainta, is the recipient of the project because it is flood-prone.
Bautista said the project involves the installation of pumping stations in all the rivers and the widening of the waterways or the passageways.
The Bulao River in Cainta and the river under Ortigas bridge will be widened by 30 meters up to the Manggahan floodway in Pasig City, Bautista said.
In event of floods, the Manggahan flood-control structure near the Pasig River will be closed, and the water coming from Marcos Highway, Cainta, Taytay, and nearby towns will be pumped into the Pasig River.
The JICA, which is in charge of study and survey of the area, has already submitted its report to the DPWH.
Bautista said that the MPMO also had submitted to the DPWH main office the details of the engineering designs and the scope of work.
The project was proposed in 1996, and it is only now that the DPWH main has acted on it.
Bautista said that a part of its project, which includes the construction of riprap near creeks, should have steel bars to make it durable and effective in preventing "flash floods’ in villages.
"The project is only a remedial measure, but once this mega project is in place, all the ripraps which have no steel bar would be replaced," Bautista said.
For example, the creek near Lynx and Mercedes Sts. of Village East Executive Homes, which was finished recently, the riprap had no steel bars and when there is flood, the riprap collapsed brought about by the rampaging waters.
In Cainta, a lateral drainage costing P5 million is being proposed by the DPWH-MPMO.
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