A TASK force composed of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the city’s own Department of Engineering and Public Works has been created to address the longstanding and worsening flooding problem. “The flood yesterday (Sunday) was like an eye-opener for us,” Mayor Edgardo C. Labella told reporters Monday. Among the heavily flooded streets following rains over the weekend were N. Bacalso Avenue, Sanciangko Street, Colon Street, and Manalili Street. In a coordination meeting Monday, Mr. Labella said he was told that the DPWH-Cebu City District Engineering Office has ongoing flood control projects worth P1.2 billion for Cebu City and neighboring Mandaue City this year. The city government, meanwhile, has P1.5 billion worth of flood-control projects unutilized from the continuing appropriations in the 2015 budget. “The inter-agency task force will make an evaluation study on these flood-control programs of both the city and the DPWH so that there will be no overlapping and so that there will be coherence in implementing these projects,” the mayor said. DPWH District Engineer Florida P. Nuñez said her office will also assist the city in the regular clean-up of drainage systems to lessen flooding incidents. — The Freeman

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR