By Mike Crismundo
BUTUAN CITY – Relief from the perennial flooding in this city may be coming soon with the projected completion of an P830-million river wall.
Construction of the Lower Agusan River Bank Protection, Agao-Urduja-PPA Section is at full swing and is already 67.53 percent complete, and is expected to be finished before the end of the year.
This river bank protection structure is a major flood control project in Butuan, and it is currently undertaken by the EquiParco Construction Company.
“We already instructed our ground engineers and all technical men to be on the ground while weather condition is still good,” said DPWH 13 Regional Director Engr. Pol M. Delos Santos, in an exclusive interview with The Manila Bulletin on Wednesday.
In his progress report to Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, the DPWH 13 region’s chief said the 1.74-kilometer river wall project on the west bank of the Agusan River along Agao-Urduja-PPA Section, is already on the right track and hitting its target completion by the end of the year.
Delos Santos said the residents in the west bank will be better protected from flooding when this project is already complete, which is designed to reinforce the existing flood wall, flood gates, and relief pumping stations in this fast-rising capital city in Northeastern Mindanao or Caraga region.
“This flood control project will really protect the West Bank of Agusan River of any overflowing of flood coming from the upstream of Agusan river,” stressed the region’s top DPWH official.
In another development, the regional office of the DPWH here is already preparing for the implementation of the P761-million Roads Leveraging Linkages of Industry and Trade or ROLL IT program for Caraga region.
ROLL IT is a convergence program of the DPWH and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI 13) already approved for the 2019 National Expenditure Program or NEP and is set to implement this year for Caraga region.