More rivers, creeks in Cebu City to be dredged - Cebu Circle | Cebu City, Philippines

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Thursday, February 24, 2011

More rivers, creeks in Cebu City to be dredged

02/24/2011 - The Cebu City government has expanded the areas to be dredged to cover other rivers and creeks in Cebu City.

Department heads gathered at the mayor’s conference room yesterday to come up with guidelines on how to clear the rivers of informal settlers.

“We have to remember that we can’t just be dredging when there are obstacles,” Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said in a radio interview.

He said he has to clear the rivers to avoid other problems when the heavy rain comes and flooding happens.

“If the political will is not present, then will be creating more problems in answering for gross neglect and that make us criminally and administratively liable,” he said.

Next week, the city will open the evacuation center where displaced settlers will be temporarily housed.

The city has ordered the demolition of houses built along riverbanks and creeks to address the flooding problem in the city.

As this developed, the Prince Court Motel has offered to reopen the creek that they previously covered and replaced with culverts when they constructed the motel to allow water to pass through during heavy rains.

This was revealed by Squatters Prevention and Encroachment Elimination Division (Speed) chief Noel Artes in an interview.

The original creek was previously condemned by Prince Court, which instead installed culverts underneath their hallways where the water was diverted to.

In a recent study by the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW), it was found out that the diameter of the culverts placed underneath the Prince Court was not wide enough to allow the huge volume of water during heavy rains to pass through, causing the water level in the area to rise at a faster rate.

DEPW recommended that the culverts be taken out and replaced with bigger culverts.

But Prince Court management suggested that instead of replacing the culverts, they would rather “restore” the old creek.

“Their culverts are regularly de-clogged but it just can’t handle the heavy flow of water during heavy rains,” Artes told reporters. (Inquirer Global Nation)

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