DPWH bares P1.9-B Bulacan river system rehabilitation plan

ANGELES CITY ,Philippines  – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has come out with a P1.9-billion proposal to rehabilitate the Marilao-Meycauayan-Obando River System (MMORS), which has been tagged as one of the world’s dirtiest.

Antonio Molano Jr., regional director of the DPWH in Central Luzon, said they submitted a proposal on the dredging of the MMORS, including a proposal to upgrade a 30-kilometer dike along the waterway.

Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado had appealed for immediate national government support for the rehabilitation of the MMORS, which the international environment watchdog Blacksmith Institute has described as one of the world’s 30 dirtiest rivers.

“Everyone is looking up to the north. It is the time to show our region’s development and progress. But how can we fully promote that, if there’s a smudge or a blackeye on its image?” Alvarado said.

Alvarado, who is also chairman of the sectoral committee on infrastructure development of the Regional Development Council, said the DPWH submitted to the RDC its rehabilitation program and budget requirements.

Alvarado said the rehabilitation program should include the construction of a sanitary landfill where dredged materials from the river system could be dumped.