MANILA — The Quezon City Government has partnered with the University of the Philippines-Resilience Institute in developing a Drainage Master Plan (DMP) for the City.
Mayor Joy Belmonte revealed the good news in a chat message to Maharlika TV network (MTVN) saying that this landmark project only needs to integrate with the national government’s development plan before it will be executed.
“Now pa lang nagkaroon ng flood and drainage master plan ang City during our time. And we will be implementing this na after we synch with the national government (It was only during our time that our City was able to have a flood and drainage master plan and we will be implementing this after we sync with the national government),” Belmonte said.
The DMP project, which officially began on June 18th this year, seeks to develop and select the best solutions, such as physical modifications and upgrades, necessary for drainage and flood management improvements in Quezon City.
“It is a citywide drainage master plan through a partnership with UP,” Belmonte added.
The DMP covers all of the City’s 142 barangays and integrates all 44 tributaries and five major river systems that pass through the City’s jurisdiction with the man-made drainage systems built by the various government agencies involved with drainage and roadworks.
It is noted that the DMP also covers flooding and other drainage challenges experienced at the City’s borders with its adjacent LGUs.
The project will run for two years, with staggered accomplishments throughout this period covering priority barangay groups, selected for the prevalence of flooding within their respective areas.
Among the areas that face flooding on a very frequent basis is West Riverside St.,
particularly its section in Barangay San Francisco Del Monte. This street, along with identified areas in 14 other Barangays can be expected to have long-term flood solutions within the next two months.
The DMP project is part of Quezon City’s efforts to better understand its disaster risks, and define and address relevant information gaps.
Outputs of the DMP shall produce knowledge that is targeted, authoritative, understandable, and useful, and practical. It shall ultimately guide the City on decisions aimed at reducing the impacts of future potential disaster events.
(This article, written by Rjhay E. Laurea, was first published in the Maharlika TV Website on August 30, 2021)