Govt eyes road dike, spillway to stop floods from Laguna lake

The government is set to build a road dike and a spillway to stop the Laguna de Bay from overspilling, presidential adviser for environmental protection Neric Acosta said Friday.

 

Silt that makes Laguna Lake shallow causes the rapid overflow of water into low-lying towns around the lake, including the cities of Biñan and San Pedro, two of the areas hit by heavy Habagat rains early this week. 

 

After having gone through Ondoy, the country's worst storm since 2009 that submerged 70 percent of Metro Manila, as well as two Habagat rain that caused major flooding in just two years, the government "is very awake" to implement the country's flood control master plan to the tune of P351.72 billion, Acosta said in an interview on GMA News TV's News to Go.

 

What's stopping them from implementing it immediately, Acosta said, is the "financials."

 

"Major investments po ito," Acosta said, noting that these will be covered under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP), the government's flagship program for infrastructure development.

 

"Alam na natin kung saan ang priority areas. It's just a matter now kung paano ang phases," he added.

 

In the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) flood control master plan, the government has cited 11 long-term projects improving the country's major waterways. 

 

The projects can "either be financed using government funds or requested under official development assistance," the report said.

 

But a cursory look at the plan shows that the road dike and the spillway are not among the 11 shortlisted projects targeted to be finished in the next 23 years, but included in the report's "optimum solutions" list to solve the flooding in the Laguna lakeshore area.

 

The road dike, designed to encircle the Laguna lake with pumping stations, falls under PPP program for the C-6 Extension, a 43.6 km, 4-lane highway from the lakeshore area of Laguna de Bay from Taguig, Rizal to Los Baños, Calamba.

 

In a separate text message to GMA News Online, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said the road ring dike may be under a "built-operate-transfer" scheme, which means the project will be financed and operated by a private agency before the government takes over after a certain period not exceeding 50 years. 

 

Meanwhile, the spillway - either a tunnel or an open canal measuring at least 20 kilometers - would cross along Sierra Madre all the way to Infanta, Quezon and exit to the Pacific ocean, Acosta explained.

 

The previous plan - the 7-kilometer Parañaque spillway running from Laguna lake and exiting to Manila Bay - was scrapped due to various development projects built along its way, Acosta said.

 

"Nabuild up na dyan ang SLEX, NAIA, subdivisions, malls. Ang hirap na po o imposible na gawan ng kanal o spillway dyan. The only alternative is itong (Pacific spillway)," Acosta said.

 

Acosta said the flood control plan is important to prevent flooding in Manila and surrounding areas like Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Rizal, among others.

 

"Na-sandwich (ang Manila and surrounding areas) between two bodies of water. Kung aapaw ang seawater ng Manila Bay, at kung may flooding sa Laguna lake, saan pupunta ang tubig?" he said.

 

While these are long-term projects, immediate solutions to the flooding such as dredging, land-raising, and retention ponds will be constructed in areas most affected by flooding, and along the country's major river systems, Acosta said.

 

"(These are) near-term do-ables. It will protect certain barangays and areas," he said.

 

Among these projects included in the short list are the Pasig-Marikina river improvement and dam construction, Meycauayan river improvement, Malabon-Tullahan river improvement, South Parañaque-Las Piñas river improvement, and the East Mangahan floodway (Cainta and Taytay River Improvement).

 

The others are land raising for small cities around Laguna lakeshore, improvement of the inflow rivers to Laguna lake, Manila Core area drainage improvement, West Mangahan Area drainage improvement, and the Valenzuela-Obando-Meycauayan improvement. — with Marc Jayson Cayabyab/RSJ, GMA News