Villar: P28 billion megadike to solve Marikina flooding

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Public Works and Highways is building a P28-billion megadike project to solve flooding in Marikina and other flood-prone areas, DPWH Secretary Mark Villar announced yesterday.

During the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum, Villar said the megadike project along Batasan Hills, Quezon City is 24 meters high.

“It’s an ongoing project. There are many subdivisions there that are prone to flooding such as Vista Real. I inspected the (megadike) construction yesterday (Tuesday),” Villar said.

Marikina River’s water level rose to 22 meters, which was higher than the level recorded during Ondoy at 21.5 meters.

“That is why the height of the megadike is 24 meters. We just have to extend it further to reach the other areas prone to flooding,” Villar said.

He said on the other side of the megadike is the Pasig-Marikina River channel improvement project funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

“The project will increase the flood capacity of the Pasig-Marikina River,” Villar said.

“We finished phase 3 of the project. Phase 4 is the dredging of the Manggahan floodway. This will help solve flooding in Marikina,” he said.

Villar underscored the need to control the flow of water going to the Marikina River.

The project may not be finished under the term of President Duterte.

“But at least the pipeline is already there,” Villar said.

The DPWH is also working on the Parañaque spillway project that would control the water coming from the mountains to the Marikina River.

DPWH probes Skyway mishap

Meanwhile, the DPWH is conducting an investigation on the collapse of a steel girder at the construction site of the Skyway Extension project that killed a motorist and injured four others in Muntinlupa.

Villar said the incident involved “negligence and stupidity.”

“Obviously, the operator miscalculated his move that caused the crane to tilt and hit the steel girder,” Villar said.

The DPWH is conducting its own probe to prevent a repeat of a similar accident in the future, according to Villar.

“We want to find out who should be held liable for the incident and to what extent,” he said.

“There is an ongoing legal probe and I don’t want to preempt that. On the part of the government, we want to see the extent of the liability of the project contractor. We are coordinating with the contractor and concessionaire. No one wanted this accident to happen,” Villar added.

San Miguel Corp. (SMC), propopent of the Skyway Extension project, earlier said it would extend assistance to the victims of the accident.

SMC president Ramon Ang has apologized to the victims and their families.