Gains of anti-flood program bared : 74,000 families in Pangasinan, Tarlac now relieved from floods
DAGUPAN CITY — At least 74,000 families are now protected by the flood-mitigating projects of President Arroyo in Tarlac and Pangasinan, it was reported.
President Arroyo’s anti-flood program has spared the inhabitants from damages to crops, properties, public facilities and risk to their lives, a member of the Region 1 Development Council said.
"Consequently, the program contributes a lot to the efforts to enhance the economic and social welfare of the thousands of residents in and around the project areas," he said.
He said that a major portion of the riverbank is now enforced with earth dikes, thus preventing floods.
The people living near the riverbanks in the urban areas, meanwhile, are protected by the concrete walls.
The major flood- control facilities already constructed are earth dikes, concrete walls, and spur dikes.
In order to protect the Bayambang (Pangasinan) area, part of the flood discharge has been diverted to the Poponto swamp through an 800-meter-wide floodway, engineers said.
It was recalled that some 70 percent of the riverbanks was damaged by the earthquake in 1990 and the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.
However, most of these flood facilities had been rehabilitated by the Project Management Office (PMO)-Agno Flood Control System (AFCS) of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
It was reported that the cities of Tarlac, Dagupan and Urdaneta, and Lingayen also benefited from the flood-control program, which is being undertaken with the support of congressmen, governors, and mayors. This includes the implementation of Phase II of the Agno River Flood Control Project (ARFC.
DPWH Major Flood Control and Drainage-Cluster 11 head Director Philip F. Menez is closely supervising the implementation of the R1.156 billion Agno River Flood-Control Project.
Region 1 DPWH Director Fidel D. Ginez is the incumbent project manager of Agno Flood-Control System (AFCS), while Engineer Aurelio C. Mendoza, who supervised the implementation of flood system project in Northeastern Mindanao (Caraga Region), is now the project engineer in charger of Phase II of ARFC.
"We are fast-tracking this project so we can meet our target date of completion," Engineer Mendoza said.
To date, the implementation of ARFC’s Phase 11 is 38.35 percent complete with positive 4.38 percent slippage in ground operations.
The ground works on the guide channel to Bayambang portion of ARFC’s Phase 11 flood system is under contract with Daewoo Eng’ng and Construction Co. Ltd. under the supervision of Project Manager Kim Baek Ki. Project Consultant Manager is Shomei Ezaki of Nippon Koei.
The completion of the ground work for ARFC’s Phase 11 is targetted on Oct. 30, 2009.
"Upon completion, this project is expected to play a vital role in the improvement of the living environment of the people by relieving them from recurrent floods," Director Menez said. -- MUC
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