The riprap on both sides of the road is part of a DPWH drainage project in A.S. Fortuna Extension in barangay Guizo, Mandaue City. The structure has drawn complaints from residents and an establishments for posing an obstruction and allegedly placing then at risk of getting flooded because of the higher elevation.
(CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
The stone riprap is supposed to be an anti-flood structure to protect residents in A.S Fortuna Extension in barangay Guizo, Mandaue City.
But the new “walls” on both sides of a one-way road, a project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), constricts the thoroughfare, causing anxiety for residents, who worry that it obstructs buildings nearby and exposes them to flooding due to their lower elevation.
“If we will not elevate our houses, we will drown here,” Mae Lopez told Cebu Daily News.
Lopez’s assessment was confirmed by architect Florentino Nimor, chief of Mandaue City Hall’s Planning and Development Office in a press conference on Wednesday.
“The whole stretch of A.S. Fortuna Extension would need improvements. The road and the residents need to elevate or level up to the riprap in order to accommodate the installation of box culverts,” Nimor said.
Lopez, 25, said her home was located next to the riprap and the wall blocks the main door.
“If the construction will be done by connecting to the creek and we can’t elevate our houses, we need to walk a long way to get to the road,” Lopez complained in Cebuano.
Own good
If a fire breaks out, she said, firefighters would have difficulty entering the neighborhood because the road is now more narrow.
Lopez said she could not afford the expense of renovating her house to a higher elevation.
“We will try to adjust to this because they built this for our own good,” she said, but the strange design of the anti-flooding project worries her.
The lower portion of Lopez’s house built of light materials is usually flooded even after a light rain.
She said she fears the stone riprap would cover water pipes which service residents.
Many sitios in barangay Guizo are flooded during the rainy season because of its location near the Mantuyong and Guizo Creeks. When the creeks overflow, runoff water goes to nearby homes.
Pilipinas Water Resources Inc., which manufactures bottled water, is also affected by the riprap.
“It’s inconvenient for our maintenance crew, our deliveries of products and equipment. If this continues we’ll have to do work manually,” said Virgilio Maribao, a company representative.
Nimor said the stone riprap is supposed to solve flooding in A.S. Fortuna Extension and nearby areas once and for all.
He said the embankment or stone masonry was part of an P83 million drainage project of the DPWH.
Box culverts will run from A.S. Fortuna St. and M.C Briones St. to Guizo Creek. He said the culverts have to be positioned higher than the creek.
But he admitted that the riprap will only solve flooding in some areas and not for those living near it because it serves as an outfall for floodwaters.
“That’s why they need to elevate,” he said. The project was awarded to P.B. Obial Construction which started building the riprap last May 2. Work is supposed to be completed in 210 days.
DPWH is coordinating the riprap project with Mandaue City’s Drainage Board.
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What gov’t, households can do to prevent flooding right now
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