Mandaue to implement drainage master plan

CEBU, Philippines - The Mandaue city government is to initially implement its drainage master plan with an initial P20 million budget which is taken from its Annual Investment Plan (AIP).

Engr. Florentino Nimor, head of the City Planning Department, said the implementation of the drainage master plan is already included in the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) of the city government.

He said that under the drainage master plan, the city's flood-prone areas and the actual sizes of drainage to be used have already been identified.

But Nimor also said they also found out lately that there were some flood-prone areas like barangay Guizo that are also never been mentioned in the drainage master plan before.

And because of this discovery, they are now in the process of comparing the data from the plan and the data that they got lately when the city was badly affected by the flood.

However, since the budget for the implementation of the drainage master plan is just initial, Nimor said the city is having a hard time identifying which among the flood-prone areas are to be prioritized. The implementation of the entire drainage master plan will cost the city a total of P1 billion.

Because of this, Nimor said Mayor Jonas Cortes has created a technical working group composed of the City Planning, City Engineer's Office and Engr. Jimmy Vasquez of the Mayor's Management Team that will analyze which of the flood-prone areas will be prioritized first under the initial P20 million budget.

Nimor said the implementation of the project will start first quarter this year as the budget is now ready.

He added with regards to the problem on public safety, the city government could release anytime additional funds through a supplemental budget especially that the city council is now cooperative with the administration of Cortes.

According to Nimor, the flooding along A.S. Fortuna Street in Barangay Banilad is already a perennial problem but is also considered manageable.

But he said that once the informal settlers living along the Mahiga Creek are demolished, there will be smooth flow of water towards the Mactan Channel and the flooding could be eliminated.

Nimor said that these illegal settlers are already assured by the city government of aid if the plan to demolish them pushes through. (FREEMAN)