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Philippines: Speed up national road maintenance in typhoon-hit areas, Datumanong orders

Pays
Philippines
Sources
Govt. Philippines
Date de publication

Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Simeon A. Datumanong has ordered agency field officials to carry out immediate maintenance work on national roads damaged by monsoon rains and typhoons "Gloria" and "Hambalos" that recently hit the country.
Datumanong also directed DPWH maintenance crews to use all available equipment to clear national roads from landslides, debris and fallen trees.

He also asked field officials to thoroughly assess damages to public infrastructure, particularly bridge sub-structures, school buildings and flood control structures.

Datumanong said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has directed the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release P80 million in calamity funds to the DPWH for repairs of damaged infrastructure.

Prioritry, he said, would go to patching up potholes in Metro Manila, Manila North Road, Manila South Road and the Cagayan Valley Road, which for sometime was closed to all types of vehicles.

Meanwhile, the DPWH has vowed to extend technical help to the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to solve the perennial flooding in the metropolis.

This followed the formal turn-over of all functions and responsibilities for flood control projects in Metro Manila from the DPWH to the MMDA, in accordance with the instruction of President Macapagal Arroyo.

Under a memorandum of agreement signed by Datumanong and MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando, the MMDA would also assume the functions and responsibilities and relevant programs, projects, activities, personnel, funds, equipment, records, assets and liabilities subject to the provisions of existing relevant laws.

The DPWH has identified at least two major causes of flooding in Metro Manila, namely: the overflowing of the Pasig, San Juan, Marikina and Malabon-Tullahan rivers and streams during intense rain and the insufficiency of inland drainage facilities in coping with excessive local run-offs.

Flooding has been aggravated by the indiscriminate disposal of garbage and other solid materials into the rivers, esteros, drains, and waterways.

DPWH Assistant Secretary Salvador A. Pleyto, in-charge of the operation in the National Capital Region, said encroachment on esteros and rivers by squatters, business establishments and residential buildings also affected the flow of waters.