The Public Works Department has mapped out the route of a P20-billion ring dike around Laguna de Bay to tackle flooding in the eastern and southern part of Metro Manila and adjoining provinces.
Director Edilberto Tayao, of the Public Works Department-National Capital Region, said the 89.3-kilometer embankment would dovetail into the 7-km dike section of the Circumferential 6 road in Taguig City, which was also designed to serve as an alternate route to ease the traffic gridlock in the metropolis.
“President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo already knew about this project [which] is in the planning stage,” he told Standard Today.
As aligned, the 10-meter wide, two-lane and 15-meter elevation dike will link up the cities of Pasig, Parañaque, Muntinlupa, Taguig along with Pateros and Tanay with the larger segment in the Rizal and Laguna provinces.
Tayao said the dike was tossed by Public Works Secretary Victor Domingo to agency officials and regional directors in updating their flood control master plan for Metro Manila following the deadly inundation triggered by storm Ondoy among other cyclones.
Undersecretary Romeo Momo, in-charge for Luzon operations, said the infrastructure would be welcome to the business and travel sectors.
“Surely, it will also decongest the traffic in Metro Manila because motorists coming from Rizal going toward, let’s say Las Piñas City... There is no need to pass Antipolo or inner. They will just connect on the ring dike,” said Momo.
“It will connect [localities] within the lake region at the same time it will reclaim a lot of lands.”
He said project documents would be forwarded to the National Economic and Development Authority for review and evaluation.
“We will spend time for this project and it cannot be done in one or two, or three years. This is almost 100 kilometers and you just imagine elevation 15, that’s a high dike,” Momo told Standard Today.
When asked where the P20- billion budget would come from, he said the project was amply covered.
“We have many avenues for funding and we can include this in our foreign-funded projects by Jica [Japan International Cooperation Agency] and World Bank.”
Momo said the dike route was based on the flooding history of lakeshore localities.
“The priority will be based on the areas where it is usually submerged the most during the rainy days.” he said.
The September flooding has enlarged the 90,000-square kilometer lake to almost 100,000 square kilometers, with a sprawl reaching as far as Mabuhay City Subdivision in Barangay Mamatid, Cabuyao, Laguna, which had knee-deep waters after only a few days of continuous rain.
The normal water level at the Laguna Lake is 10.5 meters, but on Nov. 5, the level notched 13.7 meters or 3.2 meters above the threshold. Joel E. Zurbano
