The Philippines’ Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is speeding up dredging work on canals and waterways in Marikina City.
Vince Dizon, Public Works Secretary, said that repair and cleaning activities are being fast-tracked to reduce flooding in the city during the rainy season.
The water in the Marikina River will flow more smoothly once the dredging, cleaning, and widening of the esteros, canals, and other waterways in Marikina City are completed, Dizon said.
“ That’s why we need to finish the projects [repairing waterways] quickly. That’s why everything we’re doing now, we’re dredging, we’re fixing the gaps in the dikes, we’re fixing the drainages so that the water can flow faster into the rivers ,” Dizon stated during his inspection of the Marikina River flood control project on Wednesday.
Once the projects in Sumulong Drainage, Balanti Creek, Manila Water Site are completed and the issue of right-of-way in the Pasig–Marikina River Channel Improvement Project (PMRCIP) Phase V is resolved, it will speed up the flow of water into the river, which in turn will help in the rapid subsidence of floods in Marikina.