Work on Camanava flood control project on schedule

The Department of Public Works and Highways has assured residents of the flood-prone northern metropolis that their perennial flood problem would soon be resolved with the completion of the Camanava multibillion-peso mega-flood control project.

"We are now 38 percent complete and hoping that by December this year half of the project would be finished," DPWH engineer Carla Bartolo, project director of the Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela (Camanava) flood control project, told The STAR.

Bartolo said that a few hitches in the P3.5-billion foreign-funded project such as the right of way in Barangays Catmon, Longos and on Letre Road involving around 200 squatter families are now being worked out.

"They had been relocated in 2000, but after availing of the relocation project incentives, they returned to the old site. But this can be handled," she said.

The DPWH started the project in late 2003 to address to the worsening flood problem in the part of Camanava that serves as catch basin of floodwaters from the higher part of Metro Manila.

The project is being funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and is expected to be finished in 2007.

Nearing completion is the pumping station on Lapu-Lapu waterway that connects Caloocan City and the municipality of Navotas. Construction of the two other pumping stations in Barangay Catmon, Malabon and Bangkulasi in Navotas is ongoing.

The two other pumping stations in Maypajo, Caloocan and in Navotas North are next in line, Bartolo said.

Apart from the five pumping stations, the Navigational Flood Gate on the mouth of the Navotas River as well as the construction of dikes are also underway.

Bartolo said that at least 12 independent floodgates across major waterways in Camanava are now being constructed.