DPWH chief: There is flood control master plan

MANILA, Philippines — There is a flood control master plan, Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan clarified yesterday, although project implementation has been delayed for various reasons.

He told “Storycon” on One News that there is a master plan for each of 18 major river basins. There are different plans because the environmental circumstances differ for the basins, he explained.

In a media briefing, he also said many of the government’s flood control projects have suffered delays due to the three-year COVID pandemic and flooding is a result of a lack of desilting and dredging operations.

“These projects extend as far back as 2019 up to 2023. Many of these projects suffered delays because of various factors, including the pandemic period of about three years. And when we came in, we continued these projects and completed them,” Bonoan said yesterday.

He gave assurance that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) continues to implement flood control projects.

The DPWH is in charge of “immediate engineering intervention projects” while other aspects of flood control are handled by local government units and, in Metro Manila, by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Bonoan told Storycon.

He said the DPWH under the Marcos administration has completed a total of 5,521 flood control projects.

Bonoan recently told a Senate hearing that to some extent, there is no existing flood control master plan. He said the statement was misunderstood.