Lawmaker: DPWH used up 2010 allotment for flood project

MANILA, Philippines - Residents of low-lying areas in the northern part of Metro Manila should not expect any improvement in their flood problem this rainy season as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has already exhausted its 2010 allotment for the Camanava flood control project, a lawmaker said yesterday.

“The 2010 budget for the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela) flood control project has been used up,” Malabon City Rep. Jaye Lacson Noel told The STAR.

Noel said she has been talking with DPWH Undersecretary Romeo Momo whether it would be possible to tap the agency’s 2011 budget for the project “for it to be finished sooner.”

“Although it is already outside of my mandate, I’m still obliged to get involve for it’s my constituents that are directly affected by the flood problem,” Noel said.

She said DPWH engineer Carla Bartolo, project director of the Camanava flood control project, assured them in December last year the project could be completed within this year.

Noel said she has no idea how the DPWH spent its funds for the flood control project.

Noel urged the Malabon City government, particularly its engineering department, to closely coordinate with the DPWH the construction of its secondary canals to conform with plans of the mega flood control project.

“It must be synchronized for the drainage to properly function during flash floods,” she said.

The STAR tried but failed to contact Bartolo.

Engineer Ruth Zenaida, Malabon City assistant engineer, said the DPWH was supposed to finish the project last March.

“But it’s now July and their work is just on and off, not in full blast,” she said. Zenaida added that at least 12 percent of the project remains to be completed.

The multi-billion peso Camanava flood control project was started more than 10 years ago but until now the DPWH, the lead agency in its construction, has yet to finish it.