Floodwalls, pumping station eyed at Araneta Avenue

MANILA, Philippines — The government is planning to build floodwalls and a pumping station along Araneta Avenue in Quezon City, a road that is frequently flooded during the rainy season, an official said yesterday.

Portions of the low-lying road, from E. Rodriguez Avenue to Quezon Avenue, would be submerged in flash floods that would sometimes be as deep as one meter. The flood would leave mounds of trash once it subsides.

Baltazar Melgar, director of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s flood control and sewerage office attributed the frequent floods to water from the San Juan River spilling over and breaching the existing floodwalls built by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The DPWH, with the help of the World Bank, is preparing the plan for the construction of floodwalls along Araneta Avenue, from E. Rodriguez to Kaliraya Bridge, “to prevent spillover of the San Juan River,” he said in an interview over radio station dzBB.

Once the floodwalls are completed, a pumping station would be built next near Kaliraya Road to pump out floodwater inundating Araneta Avenue, he added.

The plan is currently in the “civil engineering design stage,” Melgar said, and would be presented to Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte.