Bridge aggravated flood woes: Goking

By NITZ ARANCON
and LITO RULONA
Correspondents

COUNCILOR George Goking yesterday called for a city council investigation into the public works department’s P60-million bridge project across the Bitan-ag Creek, calling it a waste of public funds as it apparently aggravated the flooding problem near a stateun university and the Limketkai center area.

Goking, chairman of the city council’s committee on trade and commerce, said officials of the Department of  Public Works and Highways (DPWH) should be summoned to the city council so they could answer questions about the project that was finished last year.

The DPWH bridge project was awarded to Jejors Construction Corp..

Goking said the DPWH has a lot of explaining to do now that the city has seen that the P60-million bridge only worsened the flooding problem on that section of CM Recto Ave..

“Wala man makatabang ang maong tulay, migrabi man no-on ang baha, gi-unsa man kana nila pagtrabaho?” Goking asked rhetorically.

He said the DPWH would need to show the city council the bridge project plan.

Goking called the project “palpak,” resulting in business and other losses.

“How can we attract investors to our city if we don’t have solutions to our urban flooding problem? Na-a man unta ang DPWH pero tabla ra sa wala sila,” he said.

In a news conference, Engr. Arthur Cupay, chief for planning and design of the DPWH in Region 10, said the bridge was not designed for floodwaters such as what the city saw on Monday.

“Walay maayong laki niadtong hitabo-a bisan pag ipata-as pa gyud nato ang maong tulay pero kon ang nature na gyud ang magbo-ot, wala gyud tay mahimo,” Cupay said.

Cupay said the DPWH was working to improve the drainage system of the city.

He said “we now have an existing structure along Agora road” that would serve as a channel for water from the Bitan-ag Creek near the University of Science and Technology in the Philippines (USTP) and Limketkai area.

Cupay said the plan is to link creeks to new sewer towards Kolambog and the Agora area in Lapasan, and to the sea.

“The project has already been started at the lower Agora road and it is still ongoing. This will pass through the main road. This will pass through the Puregold area, Limketkai and Kolambog areas,” he said.

Rep. Maximo Rodriguez Jr. of the city’s 2nd District said the two “drainage tunnels” would minimize the floodings around Bitan-ag Creek.

Rodriguez also called on Public Works Secretary Mark Villar to immediately release P200 million for the improvement of the city’s urban drainage system.

The fund, he said, would be in line with the government’s 2015 Urban Drainage Plan for the city, and so that the DPWH could start with the second phase of its Agora project.

In 2015, the DPWH commissioned an P11-million study and analysis of the city’s flooding problem. It was conducted by a group from the University of the Philippines-Diliman headed by Dr. Primitivo Cal.

“Since the city government did not have funds for it, the DPWH-10 paid for the study so that we can have immediate solutions,” he said.

After the study, the DPWH immediately implemented projects that “partially solved” the problem on floodings, Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said one is the P100-million drainage project that would run beneath Agora road towards Bitan-ag Creek.

“The second phase is set to be completed in the next two years,” he said.

The second phase, he said, would serve as a channel for two-thirds of the water flowing on Bitan-ag Creek.

He said this would start at the creek at the Bolonsori area in Camaman-an.

Rodriguez said the floods that hit the city’s 2nd District on Monday were the worst so far in recent years.

“The floodings destroyed a lot of properties, and victimized a lot of people,” he said.