San Miguel, Quezon City team up on flood control
San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and the Quezon City government have partnered to clean up and rehabilitate major rivers in the city to help reduce flooding amid growing controversy around delayed flood control projects.
Under their memorandum of agreement signed on Tuesday, SMC “will deepen and widen” key sections of the San Juan River and extend its cleanup of the Tullahan River to La Mesa Dam under its Better Rivers PH project.
SMC initially removed 1.1 million metric tons (MT) of silt and solid waste from 10.9 kilometers of the waterway from 2020 to 2022.
The city government will likewise identify tributaries that need to be cleaned, with SMC expected to remove silt and garbage, increase rainwater carrying capacity and improve outflow into Manila Bay.
“For five years now, we have been cleaning rivers because we want to help solve the flooding problem,” SMC chair and CEO Ramon Ang said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Everything becomes easier through collaboration. Together, we are multiplying our impact and we can set a new standard for public-private collaboration that builds the foundation for a more resilient city and a life of dignity for every QCitizen and every Filipino,” Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said.
Apart from clearing activities, SMC will also deploy dredging equipment, barges and trucks while developing “improved systems” for collecting debris and other obstructions “to restore natural flow of water.”
Declogging waterways
SMC launched the Better Rivers PH program in 2020. It has so far removed more than 8.6 million MT of silt and waste from 163 kilometers of rivers and tributaries in and around Metro Manila.
Earlier this month, Ang offered to clean waterways and resolve the flooding problem in Metro Manila “at no cost to the government or public.”
Some of the country’s largest business groups backed this proposal, saying they were “confident that SMC will be able to deliver this commitment.”
This came after President Marcos called out politicians who had caused the delay in implementing flood control projects across the country during his State of the Nation Address in July.
Mr. Marcos recently named contractors that have cornered more than a fifth of the P545-billion budget for flood mitigation projects undertaken by his administration since July 2022.
