DPWH project to help ease flood problem in Dagupan City

BY Venus May H. Sarmiento

DAGUPAN CITY – The Department of Public Works and Highways assured that the drainage system and slope protection projects of the government, once completed, would help ease the perennial flood problem in Dagupan City.

Bernard Caronongan , information officer of DPWH in the Second Engineering District of Pangasinan which covers Dagupan City, said three drainage and slope /bank protection projects are underway in four flood-prone barangays of the city.

“The flood control projects are located in Barangays Bacayao Norte, Pogo-Lasip (Pogo Grande and Lasip Grande) and Malued which are now 30 percent complete,” Caronongan said during the KBP Forum on Thursday.

The projects are set to be completed in December 2016, he added.

Dagupan City, which is below the sea level, has been experiencing flood even without a tropical storm. Monsoon rains triggered by high tide has caused knee-deep flooding in low-lying barangays for the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, Edith Manuel of the Fourth Engineering District of DPWH said the department has been through decades of implementing flood control projects but reiterated that flooding is a result of global warming and climate change.

“Water seeks its own level,” Manuel said answering queries that villages which do not experience flooding before are now always under water.

Manuel said it is now the protocol of the department that whenever a road is elevated, the drainage system is also mandated to be raised. (VHS/PIA-Pangasinan)