Floodwaters from Libona: Oro engineer

By NITZ ARANCON,
Correspondent

THE waters that have been causing Bitan-ag Creek to overflow on a major section of CM Recto Ave. and areas around it are from Libona town in Bukidnon, city engineer Roland Pacuribot said over the weekend.

Pacuribot said this even as he rejected claims made by Councilor Teodulfo Lao Jr. that the waterflow of the Bitan-ag Creek was altered by the developers of Limketkai center.

“Wala man usaba,  ma-o man gihapon kana nga agi-anan sa tubig    adto pang sa una, nga   wala pa ma-develop ang Limketkai,” he said.

Bitan-ag Creek stretches from Barangay Camaman-an to the Limketkai center, a part of CM Recto Ave. towards an area beside the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTSP), Gaabucayan  St., all the way to “Tulay Semento” in Puntod  and then into the Macajalar Bay via Lapasan.

Pacuribot said the Bitan-ag Creek is linked to another creek in Kinawe, Libona in Bukidnon.

He said the recent floods were due to the deluge of water from the Bukidnon town that Bitan-ag Creek could no longer take.

Pacuribot said the problem would be addressed by the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) that would build a new drainage system in the area.

Pacuribot, a member of a technical working committee of the DPWH, said the national government would build two underground box tunnels from the Puregold area in Lapasan that would traverse Agora Road, all the way to the port area, and onto the sea.

The tunnels would be three meters high and 3.5 meters wide.

He said the tunnels would be connected to the Bitan-ag Creek at the back of Shopwise in   Limketkai.

“Gisugdan na  kini    karon nga project,” said Pacuribot.

The project, that has been given an initial budget of P50 million, has been awarded to Jejors   Construction Corp., the same firm that built the bridge across Bitan-ag Creek on CM Recto Ave. last year.

The DPWH would also construct another drainage system from Barangay Camaman-an to the sea via another creek in Kolambog, Lapasan, said Pacuribot.

The project, which he called a “diversion canal,” would prevent floodwaters from Camaman-an from reaching the Limketkai area.

Another planned project is a man-made lake-like detention basin in Barangay Indahag to hold volumes of water from Libona town in Bukidnon. Pacuribot said water from the planned Indahag detention basin can be released when the water level of Bitan-ag Creek recedes.

He said the water collected in Indahag may even be used by farmers.

But the plans would remain as mere DPWH plans without funds from the national government.

Pacuribot said, “Wala pay funding kini nga project gawas   lang  nianang  P50-million initial fund nianang ongoing construction sa box tunnels sa Agora Road.”