Marcos OKs raising portion of NLEX to fix flood woes

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday agreed to the proposal to raise a portion of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) in San Simon, Pampanga to avoid floods during typhoons and periods of heavy rain.

An area of the NLEX past the Viaduct in Pampanga recently experienced flooding following the onslaught of Typhoon Egay, Severe Tropical Storm Falcon, and the Southwest Monsoon or Habagat. The flood caused heavy vehicular traffic in the area.

"Approved. Approved ang pagtaas ng tulay doon sa bandang San Simon ng NLEX. Approved," Marcos said at the situation briefing in Pampanga, one of the provinces affected by the recent inclement weather.

(The proposal to raise a portion of NLEX is approved.)

"On the longer term, on the medium term is the NLEX that we have to fix and upon the manifestation of good mayor of San Simon... talagang itataas na 'yung (we will raise)... we will raise the NLEX para hindi na mangyari itong nangyari ngayon and then pag-aralan natin 'yung mga alternative routes (we will raise that part of NLEX so that what happened last week will not happen again and we will study having alternative routes)," he added.

During the situation briefing, Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) president and former Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio “Babes” Singson vowed to fix the situation in the San Simon segment to avoid floods.

"We are committing in front of you that we will solve the NLEX San Simon segment. Ang nangyari po kasi doon, kasi 'yung napakababang portion doon sa San Simon, pinakamahaba ho noon 200 meters lang and the highest level was less than .7 meters, ang problema doon mayroong local Tulaok Bridge sa ibabaw (what happened there was, there is a low portion in San Simon, the longest was 200 meters and the highest was less than .7 meters. The problem was the Tulaok Bridge)," Singson said.

"[The] DPWH, based on my conversation yesterday, pumapayag na sila for us to raise that portion by .7 and mag-iiwan ho kami ng clearance na 4.5 meters. Ang makakadaan doon 'yung mga legal na truck," he added.

(The DPWH already agreed to raise that portion by .7% and we will leave a clearance of 4.5 meters for the trucks.)

Marcos, during the situational briefing, also said he is looking at fixing the dredgers as a short-term solution in addressing and avoiding floods in the province. However, he mentioned the need to study the process of impounding as long-term solution against floods.

There has been a proposal to create a water impounding facility in Candaba, a suggestion that was not supported by some local officials.

"In the longer term, we really have to study what we are going to do in terms of impound dahil kung wala tayong gagawin, paulit-ulit na lang ito kahit mag-dredge tayo ( if we will not do anything, this will happen again)," Marcos said.

"Ngayon, kung may ma-displace diyan, I will personally guarantee each and everyone of these farmers na lalagay natin sila sa ibang lugar as equally as good na hindi naman sila mahirapan, hindi naman sila malugi," he added.

(If someone will get displaced there, I will personally guarantee each and everyone of these farmers that we will transfer them to areas where they can still have their livelihood.)

Some local officials feared the impact of impounding on people's livelihood, particularly to palay farmers. Candaba is a major rice producer in the region.

Under Singson’s proposal, the government will purchase around 200 hectares or ten percent of the 2,000-hectare swamp land in Candaba to build a water impounding area to prevent flooding in nearby and low-lying areas.

While in Pampanga, Marcos also distributed assistance to qualified beneficiaries in the province. —KBK/RSJ, GMA Integrated News