Vehicles cross a flooded portion of Scout Tobias Street in Quezon City following heavy rains brought by a tropical depression. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
The government will embark on a P23 billion flood control project to address the perennial flood problem in Metro Manila.
Under the Metro Manila Flood Management Project, about P20 billion would be spent by the Department of Public Works and Highways to construct and modernize the 36 pumping stations of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
Funded by loan
The flood control project would be funded jointly through a loan by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the World Bank.
The remaining P3 billion would be used by the MMDA to improve its “solid waste collection services, community mobilization and awareness campaigns, incentive-based waste collection, and to purchase more waste collection equipment.”
The National Housing Authority would be tasked to handle the resettlement of informal settlers who would be affected by the five-year flood control project.
Currently, floods caused by heavy rains usually bring traffic in the metropolis to a halt.
Once the project is completed by 2023, the MMDA said that such a problem would have already been addressed.
It added that the project would benefit at least 760,000 households, or 3.5 million people, living in flood-prone areas. —Jovic Yee