Developer needs correct rainfall data

The developer of the upland Monterrazas de Cebu project in barangays Guadalupe and Tisa, Cebu City, will set up a weather station in their work area to obtain accurate rainfall data.

The data is expected to help developer Genvi Development Corp. plan flood-mitigation measures, said lawyer Dindo Perez, the firm’s managing director.

Rainfall data would be used to determine the size of water detention ponds, Perez said.

“We rely on the Mactan Pagasa weather station for data on rainfall. But… rainfall in Mactan is different from the rainfall that we get in Cebu City,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Runoff rainwater from Monterrazas flooded eight sitios in barangay Guadalupe last July 21, but while Cebu City experienced heavy rain, rainfall data at the Mactan weather station was zero, Perez said.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama issued a cease-and-desist order on the Monterrazas de Cebu development project following the July 21 flood.

Shortly thereafter, the Environment Management Bureau issued a notice of violation on the project citing the need to adopt flood mitigating measures.

Perez told CDN flooding has afflicted barangay Guadalupe even before they started the development in 2007.

He said their P1-billion development plan prepared by a British firm also includes drainage programs and flood mitigating measures.

“We are not fly by night in our operations,” said Perez.

“We are trying our best to be compliant. Rest assured that we prepared for this project because this is not something that we thought of overnight,” he added.

Their development plan, Perez said, include a drainage design. It identified valleys were their water would go.

Genvi is now working on phase 1 of their 200-hectare development project on the Villalon property in the mountains of barangays Guadalupe and Tisa. Phase 1 covers 74 hectares.

Perez said his company is now investing P10 million for drainage in Grand Legacy and South Plains Subdivisions.

Perez said they are widening the drainage in these two subdivisions to let water from their work area flow to the city’s drainage system.

“The problem here is that it’s the drainage outside our area that is in need of fixing,” said Perez.

Perez said his company is cooperating with the city government and Environment Department.