CDN PHOTO / Norman Mendoza
Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing will coordinate with the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-7) to address the high tide flooding at the Bridge Park.
The park, which is below the Mandaue side of the Marce Fernan Bridge, the second bridge that crosses the Mactan Channel and links mainland Cebu to Lapu-Lapu City on Mactan Island, has become inaccessable to promenaders because of sea water intrusion at high tide.
“Maybe it was because of that illegal reclamation there. But we’ll see what we can do to address the problem, as parks shouldn’t be like that,” Quisumbing said on Monday.
He explained that the area in the Bridge Park and the Barangay Paknaan area are low-lying lands and there is a problem of the outfall of the Butuanon River.
He said they could address the problem through a drainage master plan that had to be worked out by DPWH, which built the park.
Eda de Guzman, who heads the DPWH-7’s maintenance office, confirmed that the Bridge Park was their project and construction was still ongoing.
The contractor of the project was PLD Contruction, which has already completed the brick pavement for the park.
However, a large portion of the Bridge Park is often submerged in seawater during high tide.
Geraldine Dela Paz, 25, of Barangay Looc, Mandaue city said she went to the park with her three-year-old baby on Sunday, July 15, and was amazed to find it submerged in about two feet of water like a huge, shallow swimming pool.
Because it was shallow, she said she allowed her baby to play in the water, like the other kids who happened to be in the area.
The seawater covers an area of around 15 meters wide and around 50 meters long of the park’s concreted grounds. This has been going on since May, according to residents.
The tide along this part of Mactan Channel rises to as high as 2.07 meters, based on high tide indicators.
The high tide also submerged an estimated 50-meter stretch of concreted road of the 6.5-hectare relocation site in Barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City, bringing inconvenience to hundreds of residents of and vehicles passing in the area.
Several houses situated close to the mangrove area in Barangay Paknaan were also getting submerged in seawater during high tide
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