With urban flooding becoming more frequent, even after a two-hour downpour, the Cebu City Council turned down a proposal to rent equipment to immediately start dredging creeks and rivers.
Instead of renting, the council said it would make better sense to buy the dredgers . However, this would mean listing it in next year’s annual budget and waiting for the full government process of acquiring the units.
A budget was already set aside in 2012 to buy a walking excavator for dredging the city’s silted creeks but until now no purchase has been made.
In an executive session yesterday, the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) asked for a P70 million budget to lease heavy equipment like a long-arm backhoe, crane with clamp shell and a swamp excavator.
Engr. Joel Reston of the DEPW said dredging was an immediate solution to street flooding in the city.
In the last Sept. 18 downpour, rain fell for six hours and left half of the streets in Cebu City under water, including the Mambaling access road to the South Road Properties (SRP) and other sites which had never experienced flooding before.
A state of calamity was declared to approve the use of emergency funds.
“Dredging and desilting should be done periodically as maintenance activities for our rivers. With so many heavy rains, silt has accumulated and the carrying capacity of the waterways is reduced,” Reston told the council.
After asking how much brand new units would cost, legsilators noted that new equipment would cost P32 million.
According to the DEPW, the backhoe is around P6 million, the crane is P8 million and the swamp excavator, which is the most important equipment, is P18 million.
“With this amount, it’s better to buy than to hire. Since you said dredging should be done as maintenance, it’s better to have our own and train people to use the equipment,” Councilor Eugenio Gabuya said.
Reston said although buying the equipment is “ideal for long-term maintenance” there was a more immediate need to dredge the waterways fast before any more heavy rains come.
Councilor Margot Osmeña, chairperson of the committee on budget and finance, suggested that if the equipment can’t be bought right away, it should be included in the executive department’s proposed budget for next year.
She also suggested that the equipment can be an emergency purchase to avoid delay in its acquisition.
She recallled that the budget outlay for the purchase of a walking excavator in 2012 hasn’t been spent yet to buy the equipment.
Of the DEPW’s porposed P70 million proposal, the amount would be split equally for the north and south districts.
The priority areas in the north are Estero-Parian waterway (P5.1 million), Lahug River (P12.7) and the Mahiga Creek (P7.2 million). In the south, the budget is proposed for the Guadalupe River (P17.2 million),
Kinalumsan River (P13.3 million) and Tagunol waterway (P4.45 million).
Yesterday’s executive session was called to discuss the anti-flooding proposal contained in a a resolution by Councilors Noel Wenceslao, Roberto Cabarrubias, Hanz Abella, and David Tumulak.
The resolution was included in the council’s agenda last week for approval but Gabuya said the city would be be wasting money with dredging only.
He suggested expanding the culverts of the city’s drainage lines and improving the outlets of the city’s waterways.
The council called an executive session to discuss.
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