DPWH: Replicating BGC cistern in densely populated areas challenging

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said on Saturday it was open to the idea of replicating the underground water impounding structure in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) to address perennial flooding in Metro Manila, but finding a suitable location proved to be difficult.

“Yes, the DPWH actually contemplated [repeating] the best practice of BCDA in BGC,” DPWH Undersecretary Catalina Cabral said at the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.

The DPWH official was referring to the five-story deep cistern underneath the Burgos Circle in BGC, which collects floodwater in the entire business district before it is gradually released into the Pasig River and Manila Bay.

“The challenge really is in urban areas, especially in Metro Manila, finding where to locate… finding the land that will allow us to build such a reservoir,” Cabral said.

In the aftermath of tropical cyclone Carina and the enhanced Southwest Monsoon (Habagat), several senators hit the implementation of flood control projects, which they said were allocated hundreds of billions in the annual national budget.

Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero said that around P255 billion was allocated for the DPWH’s flood control projects in the P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024, which he tagged as disproportionately large compared to other critical sectors.

Cabral said the DPWH has completed over 5,500 flood control projects from July 2022 to May 2024.

She said the rainfall brought by Carina and Habagat was unprecedented.

However, without the government’s flood control measures, the flooding in some areas in Metro Manila could have been worse, Cabral said.

“Pero marami hong mga portion ng Metro Manila na kung hindi po namin nagawa ang mga interventions namin over the year ay baka ho mas malala pa,” Cabral said.

(But some areas of Metro Manila may have seen more severe flooding had we not implemented our interventions over the past year.) —VBL, GMA Integrated News