After 5 years, ‘mega dike’ still unready to protect

By FROILAN GALLARDO
Special Correspondent

THE P11-billion “mega dike” project, designed to save thousands of lives along Cagayan River, may not be ready the next time a powerful typhoon much worse than “Sendong” strikes the city, officials said.

Department of Public Works and Highways spokesperson for Region 10 Vinah Jeanne Maghinay said segments of the dike that would have been financed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) have not even started yet five years after typhoon Sendong devastated villages along Cagayan River in 2011.

The typhoon struck and unleashed its wrath in the city and Iligan from the evening of Dec. 16 to Dec. 17, 2011. It was the worst environmental disaster so far in this part of this country in recent years.

Maghinay said the Japanese agency has required the local government to provide relocation sites for over 3,000 families that would be affected by the 12-kilometer flood control system.

More than 674 persons perished when flash floods hit 41 barangays in Cagayan de Oro exactly five years ago, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Sendong also affected 38,071 families or  228, 576 persons, and destroyed or damaged 12,635 houses in the villages beside the river.

Ermin Pimentel of the Cagayan de Oro Shelter and Housing Development Multisectoral Task Force blamed the political squabble between Mayor Oscar Moreno and the previous city council for the non-delivery of houses for those affected by the “mega dike.”

“In the first three years of Mayor Moreno practically we have done nothing because the city council refused to give us any budget for the housing,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel said he is optimistic that things will change for the better in 2017.

He said a number of government agencies and private firms have still expressed interest to invest in housing if the local government can provide the land.

“The city government no longer has any land left. Most of its properties were made into relocation sites for those directly affected by Sendong,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel said city hall with the help of donor agencies, have so far developed 20 relocation sites that have become home to 5,796 Sendong survivors.

“But there is nothing left for those who will be affected by the dike,” Pimentel said.

Jica has set a budget of P8.549 billion for the project while the national government contributed another P2.710 billion for the project.

“It is high enough than the waters of Sendong with a few meters to spare. It is enough to keep any flood waters from spilling from the river,” Maghinay said.

“It is the best flood control defense for Cagayan de Oro,” she added.

Maghinay said the DPWH is presently constructing the dike along the river using the national government funds.

She said the segments of the dike being constructed by the DPWH is already 81 percent completed.

Maghinay said a bridge spanning Barangays Balulang to Macasanding is also being constructed by the DPWH.

The bridge would cut across Sitio Cala-cala in Barangay Macasandig where hundreds died and many of the houses were destroyed.

“The Jica dike segment would have completed the entire flood construction project and seal the city,” Maghinay said.