environment

Iloilo City a drainage city

The June 21-22, 2008 giant flooding triggered by typhoon Frank earned Iloilo City a new moniker as a drainage city, Mayor Jerry Treñas said.
This, even as the metropolis is hosting the ongoing P4-billion’s Stage 1 of Iloilo Flood Control Project (IFCP).
“Iloilo City is the drainage for the province because we are at the lowest level. That’s why a lot of investments are needed to increase the efficiency of the city’s drainage to drain the province fast. If not, it’s either the city will be flooded most as well as portions of the province,” Treñas explained.
Started construction works in 2006, IFCP’s Stage 1 composed of Packages 1 and 2, was initially projected on a three-year period until 2009 but has been extended until February 2010 because of additional scope of works.
Though Treñas said even if IFCP is completed, it will not be enough to stop flooding in the city.
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Engr. Al Fruto, assistant project manager, said IFCP’s urgent stage will be done to attain flood control works with a scale of 20-year return period.
He added the completion stage will be successively undertaken and upgraded to the project scale of 50-year.
“The IFCP concern is to increase the capacity to control floodwaters. DPWH assessed the flooding was more than 50-year return scale. We have to try to improve some more now to further increase capacity of waterways to push floodwaters into the open sea,” Treñas stressed.
“The sheer volume of rains were really too much. The Department of Science and technology (DOST) explained the flow would take six-hour from province to the city but in 10-20 minutes floodwaters were already rising to 10-feet,” he added.
A flood victim himself even as his residence in Barangay Dungon B in Mandurriao district suffered “unquantifiable damage,” Treñas said only small portions had been spared but the rest of the city was flooded.
Thus, the mayor urged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to allocate additional funds to prioritize several project components included next phase initially scheduled to be implemented in 2013 yet.
“IFCP is a very big project. We have asked President Arroyo to prioritize several components including La Paz floodway, Dungon Creek improvement and San Isidro relocation site with a bridge in Jaro. The needed funding is not a joke but if we could get the P1.9billion it will be very super special,” Treñas said.
He added there’s a need to prioritize in the IFCP’s next phase those not initially included flood-prone barangays Ungka, Sambag, Dungon A and B, Cuartero, Calubihan, Taft North and Desamparados where at least 300 houses were washed away.
Worse, Treñas said IFCP will suffer delays as Korean contractor Hanjin’s office and equipment were submerged in a deluge that caught Panay Island off-guard.
Hanjin is working on P1.194 billion’s Package 1 for the improvements of Aganan and Tigum Rivers in Pavia to mitigate overflows, construction of 4.75-kilometer floodway and six bridges.
China International Water and Electric Corp. project manager Liu Li Min, contractor of IFCP’s Package 2 said they got the extension till 2010 because of additional scope of works.
With project cost of P500 million, Liu said they have been working on improvements of Jaro and Iloilo Rivers Mouth, Upper Ingore Creek and the new Carpenter Bridge.
River improvements include embankment and drainage system. A four-meter dike has also been widened to eight-meter road dike along the waterway.
The newly-built Carpenter’s Bridge linking Molo and Mandurriao districts replaces the old bridge beside it which was constructed in 1930s.
Fruto said they expect an additional P300 million budget because of Package 1’s design revisions and additional works.
IFCP’s funding was sourced out from the P2.9 billion loan of Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and P1.4 billion counterpart by the Philippine government.
The JBIC loan is set to expire by September 2010 though the contractors are optimistic the project will be completed before the deadline.