Public Works and Highways Secretary Secretary Rogelio Singson File Photo
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Public Works and Highways has acknowledged it received nearly P5 billion in Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) funds, which the agency said went to at least 15 high-impact flood control projects under its ambitious Flood Management Master Plan for Metro Manila and surrounding areas in Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog.
Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson disclosed on Thursday that in 2012, the agency got an initial P3.94 billion in DAP funds from Malacañang.
The budget was spent on eight flood control projects in Metro Manila, five in Central Luzon and the other two in Southern Tagalog.
The projects include the Valenzuela-Obando-Meycauayan River improvement, P820 million; Phase 1 of the Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas River improvement, P380 million; Upper Marikina River improvement, P222.5 million; East Mangahan Floodway dredging, P190 million; Mangahan Floodway dredging, P100 million, and Marikina River dredging, P50 million, among others.
Last August, another P1.06 billion in DAP funds were released to the DPWH, Singson said.
The flood management master plan, which requires funding of at least P351.72 billion up to 2035, aims to “develop a safe society that is resilient to floods.”
The DPWH has set aside P33.3 billion for at least 130 high-impact flood control projects in 2014, an increase of more than 110 percent from this year’s budget of P15.8 billion.
In a report, a copy of which was furnished the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the agency said the funds would go to the “maintenance of 11 existing flood control projects and the construction and rehabilitation of 119 other projects” nationwide.
Some of the projects are part of the master plan for Metro Manila and surrounding areas.
Under the plan, the DPWH shortlisted 11 structural flood mitigation measures: Pasig-Marikina River improvement and dam construction; P198.43 billion; Manila drainage improvement, P27.5 billion; Cainta-Taytay River improvement, P25.9 billion; West Laguna lakeshore land raising, P25.2 billion; Malabon-Tullahan River improvement, P21.6 billion; South Parañaque-Las Piñas River improvement, P17.3 billion; Meycauayan River improvement, P14 .04 billion; Valenzuela-Obando River improvement, P8.61 billion; land raising in small Laguna lakeshore towns, P7.15 billion; West Mangahan drainage improvement, P5.52 billion; and improvement of inflow rivers to Laguna de Bay, P637 million.
Meanwhile, the DPWH-National Capital Region has completed 98.73 percent of the agency’s Manila Bay seawall rehabilitation project, which has a budget allocation of P211 million.
Aside from strengthening the seawall, which stretches from the Cultural Center Complex to Rizal Park, the project also covers the repair of the Luneta Pumping Station and the rehabilitation of the breakwater.
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