MMDA chair blames floods on DPWH projects

The street floods are back. So is the blame game.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Francis Tolentino on Friday noted that the “pockets of flashfloods” that made life miserable for commuters the previous day happened mostly in areas with unfinished projects by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Tolentino cited the road works on Osmeña Highway in Makati City, Andrews Avenue in Pasay, Nagtahan and Blumentritt in Manila, and Baclaran on the border of Pasay and Parañaque cities.

Though these areas usually experience flooding even without the road works, he said, the ongoing DPWH projects which involve both road rehabilitation and drainage repairs, “added” to the problem.

At the same time, “new” flooded areas were observed Thursday around World Trade Center in Pasay, North Avenue in Quezon City, and San Lorenzo in Makati. The MMDA chief said flooding in these areas was mainly caused by trash clogging the drainage system, road diggings by a telephone company, and drainage repairs, respectively.

Based on estimates by the MMDA’s traffic engineering office, the DPWH has 39 ongoing road projects across Metro Manila, which affect a total of 75 kilometers of drainage. “That’s [like the distance from] Marikina City to Alfonso, Cavite province,” he noted. Jaymee T. Gamil