Rama says Cebu needs new drainage

The last time that the Cebu City government funded a major drainage improvement project was 10 years ago.

City Engr. Kenneth Carmelita Enriquez said massive siltation and the presence of garbage is making the city’s “aged” drainage system incapable of absorbing huge volumes of water brought by heavy rainfall.

Enriquez said when the drainage master plan was completed in 2005, 60 percent of the city’s drainage system was already found to be heavily silted with soil and garbage.

“That was not good. It is worse now,” she told Cebu Daily News.

Mayor Michael Rama said yesterday that he will include a P2.4 billion allocation to implement programs identified in the city’s comprehensive drainage master plan that was included in the 2013 budget.

The master plan was updated last year by a multi-sectoral group which included private sector urban planners and academe that Rama convened to update the 2005 drainage master plan.

Rama said he will again convene members of the multi-sectoral group which included Engr. Pedro Adonis Compendio in a breakfast meeting at his Rama compound home today before he leaves for his Xiamen trip to again consult with them on how the city can better implement its drainage master plan.

He said the massive flooding which affected the city on Tuesday was more than enough to already push for the implementation of the drainage master plan which was designed in 2005 yet.

“The signals are not good. I hope that they (the city council) will be sensitive about the signals,” said Rama.

He added that “we will need that (budget to implement the drainage master plan) and that will have to be included in the next budget whether they (the city council) likes it or not.”

Rama proposed a P500 million allocation for drainage improvement projects in his draft of the 2012 budget.

But the council only approved a P100 million allocation for the purpose because of apprehensions that the city won’t be able to collect enough money to support the mayor’s P11 billion budget proposal.

The council only approved a P5.3 billion budget for 2013.

Rama said funding problems will be addressed if the council will allow him to dispose lots at the South Road Properties.

So far, the city engineering office only managed to implement 21 percent of the project identified in the 2005 drainage master plan which is barely enough to address the city’s flooding problems.

“In the last 10 years there has been no massive drainage improvement. We already have an aged drainage system,” said Enriquez.

Enriquez said working on the P100 million drainage appropriation which the council approved for this year enabled the city engineering offices to do some desilting and minor improvements as well as maintenance works on the existing drainage system.

They spend their meager allocation in “critical areas” like highway Tagonol which gets badly flooded from the rains.

If the P2.4 billion funding is made available, the city government will already be able to implement projects identified in the master plan like the installation of modern drainage mechanisms, widening of some culverts among others to already address the city’s drainage problems.

“We need a lot more infrastructure. Coupled with proper garbage management we can resolve this flooding problem. Otherwise, no matter how big our drainage is, it will still flood,” Enriquez said.

Rama said while rivers and creeks in the upland remain wide enough to accommodate floodwater, water outlets in the lowlands are already very constricted, silted and filled with garbage.