Labella to DPWH: Check integrity of Mambaling underpass

Screenshot from live video of LTO-7 regional director Victor Caindec

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has asked Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar to have the underpass in Barangay Mambaling checked by experts.

Labella has expressed worry that flooding that “is now becoming a normal occurrence” at the multi-million structure may have already affected its integrity.

“This made the area unpassable, causing vehicular traffic in the area which is a busy thoroughfare in Cebu City,” he said.

Read: Heavy rain makes Mambaling Underpass ‘canal-like’

City officials and various Cebuanos have criticized the P800-million project that was pushed by Representative Rodrigo Abellanosa of Cebu City’s South District.

On March 31, the underpass was impassable for at least two hours after it was flooded. Labella said that flooding happened in just 30 minutes after it started to rain.

Abellanosa, for his part, said that flooding started when administration officials had diversion pipes built to channel floodwater from the Natalio Bacalso Avenue to the underpass.

Read: Cebu City officials to DPWH-7: Fix Mambaling underpass flooding

Labella said that flooding in the area is now a cause for concern.

“Secretary, I am writing to raise a concern on one of the National Government’s projects in Cebu City – a multi-million project along N. Bacalso Avenue,” the mayor said in an April 3 letter to Villar.

“I recall a few years back, the project was supposed to include underground concrete cisterns to serve as storage for flood water in case of rains. But apparently, this component of the project was crapped.”

Labella asked Villar to send experts that will “look into the functionality and structural integrity of the underpass, for the sake of everyone’s safety.”

/bmjo