Design work starts for P170-B Central Luzon floodway
CITY OF MALOLOS—The P170-billion Central Luzon Floodway project expected to permanently mitigate flooding in Bulacan, Pampanga and Nueva Ecija provinces is now undergoing detailed engineering for target construction and completion within the term of President Marcos, according to Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan.
The structure, a 60-kilometer floodway or channel that will be built to catch the waters and flood from different waterways in the three provinces, will start from Nueva Ecija and will end in Manila Bay.
To be funded through a national government loan from the Asian Development Bank, the floodway is an engineering intervention that will be a permanent solution to the flooding in the three provinces, Bonoan told Inquirer in an interview in Guiguinto town on Oct. 9.
“It will be the largest flood control project in Central Luzon and is now in the stage of detailed engineering design. It will be a more than 60-kilometer floodway from San Antonio swamp in Nueva Ecija to Manila Bay,” he said.
Presidential directive
Last year, President Marcos ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to address the flooding in Bulacan, Pampanga and other provinces in Central Luzon after the region was devastated by the southwest monsoon-enhanced Typhoon “Egay” (international name: Doksuri) in July and Typhoon “Facon” (international name: Khanun) in August that year.
This year’s Typhoon “Carina” (international name: Gaemi), which hit in July, continued to submerge some areas in Bulacan, Pampanga and other parts of the region.
The towns of Calumpit and Hagonoy in Bulacan remain to be the catch basin of floodwater cascading from different tributaries in many provinces of Central Luzon, particularly from the mountainous areas in the Sierra Madre ranges in Bulacan bound to Manila Bay.
High tide and water discharges from the three dams in Bulacan also aggravate flooding in Hagonoy, City of Malolos, Bulakan, Guiguinto and other coastal and even noncoastal towns and cities in the province.
However, at the height of “Carina,” it was the town of Marilao that was covered in 12 feet of water while Bocaue was under six feet of flood.
Sen. Joel Villanueva, who hails from Bocaue, had taken the DPWH to task for failing to resolve the repeated flooding in the region despite getting billions of pesos for flood control projects.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development has spent P500 million for the over 100,000 severely affected flood victims of “Carina” in Bulacan, at P5,000 each.
In last Tuesday’s floods caused by Severe Tropical Storm “Kristine” (international name: Trami), 54 villages in 12 towns and cities of Bulacan —Hagonoy, Guguinto, San Miguel, Bocaue, City of San Jose del Monte, Obando, Bulakan, Marilao, Paombong, Balagtas, Calumpit and City of Malolos were submerged in up to five feet of water.
Meanwhile, Bonoan also announced the start of the construction next year of the P200-billion Cavite-Manila-Bataan Interlink bridge that will provide direct connectivity and development in the coastal areas within Southern Luzon, Central Luzon and the National Capital Region.
Bonoan said the 32-km Interlink bridge will start in Naic, Cavite and will end in Mariveles, Bataan.
The structure, which is expected to be completed in six years, will be the second largest bay bridge in the world, said Bonoan.
