MAASIN CITY – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Southern Leyte district engineering office is intensifying its works in declogging drainages as one of the measures to prevent flooding in highways during rainy days.
District Engineer Ma. Margarita C. Junia said the clearing is necessary to maintain free-flowing ditches, drainage, culverts, and inlets as well as avoid different materials to silt up to reduce flood risks.
“We are in full swing in cleaning up our drainage systems in the city and towns in Southern Leyte especially that rainy season is already here,” Junia added.
Gideon Sacro, maintenance section chief, said this is a regular activity, but it is intensified during “ber” months where rains are more frequent in Eastern Visayas.
“Our instruction to our field personnel is not only to check road damages and control vegetation on roadsides but also clear the drainage system from silt,” Sacro added.
Aside from declogging, the DPWH is also implementing this year the P447 million flood control and slope protection projects to prevent landslides and road slips.
These projects are a reconstruction of national roads with slips, slope collapse and landslides of Maasin-Sogod Road, Liloan-San Ricardo Road, San Ricardo – Bil-atan Road.
Six flood control projects are up for construction in Subang Daku in Sogod town. It is seen as a permanent solution to the problem of overflowing and erosions in Subang Daku River, the largest watercourse in Southern Leyte province. (PR)
