Mandaue, Talisay, Cebu City unite to solve flooding
Several stakeholders will be converging today to discuss how to solve flooding and drainage problems in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Talisay.
“We want to let the people know that we are serious in addressing the problem (of flooding). More heads are better than one,” said Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama yesterday.
The event, which was dubbed as the First Inter-City Drainage Summit, will be held at the Elizabeth Hotel Ballroom along Archbishop Reyes Ave. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Among those who were invited to attend are local government officials, engineering professors, contractors, environment authorities, national agencies, technical specialists and practitioners whose
line of work engages in flood mitigation and storm drainage systems.
The activity is spearheaded by the Cebu City government in cooperation with the cities of Mandaue and Talisay.
Discussion will focus more on how to “create an ideal flood mitigating solution” and come up with an integrated drainage design along the boundaries of the three cities.
The idea of a drainage summit was introduced by Rama after the September 18 heavy flooding in Metro Cebu which resulted in the declaration of a state of calamity in the city.
The Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) has already proposed to the city council dredging projects for the city’s major rivers and waterways worth P70 million.
But until now, the city council has not approved the project.
Councilor Eugenio Gabuya Jr. earlier raised that dredging is only a band-aid solution to the problem and is just a waste of money since the silt can easily accumulate along the waterways.
Approval of the project has been deferred for several weeks already.
Yesterday, Rama said among their objectives for the summit will be identifying the short-term, medium and long-term solutions for the flooding problem.
“There got to be unity in answering the problem. We want to have a clear direction and clear plan of action,” the mayor said.
He said only the cities of Talisay and Mandaue were included in the summit since these are the nearest to Cebu City.
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