SLOW DREDGE How city govts inaction wasted millions of pesos in resources

by Manuel Boy Mejorada and Karen Bermejo The News Today

The dredging of the Iloilo River as part of the rehabilitation and beautification project initiated by Senator Franklin M. Drilon has encountered huge delays, and millions of pesos in wasted operational hours, because of the city government's failure to provide for a suitable disposal site for the excavated silt. Engr. IV Ronnie Catuiran, OIC-Equipment Management Division of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Region 6, said the hundred-million peso dredging machine was deployed in Iloilo City more than a year ago upon the request of Drilon but spent most of its time docked --- under-utilized --- near the Quirino-Lopez Bridge. "At the most, our dredger could only operate a little over four hours every day, even though its operational capacity allows it to work as long as 16 hours," Catuiran told The News Today. The DPWH had planned to dredge 200,000 cubic meters of sedimentation from the river bottom over a 400-square meter area between the Quirino-Lopez bridge and Arsenal St. but this is not likely to be accomplished anytime soon because the dredger has suffered from technical problems. "Our role is only to provide the dredger," Catuiran said. "The LGU is supposed to provide for a place to dump the silt material." After one year, the city government has managed to allocate a 30-sqm temporary disposal area on the eastern bank of the river in Barangay Rizal, Lapaz, for the purpose, he said. Because of this, the dredger could only dredge 400-600 cubic meters of sedimentation. The disposal area will collapse if its capacity is exceeded, he said. At this rate, it will require more than a year to dredge the target 200,000 cubic meters, experts said. The problem is that because of the slow pace of the work, the areas already dredged will again turn shallow with sediment deposits, they said. That's because the river flow

is still obstructed downstream, and it will not take long for silt deposits to build up, they added. This is just one of the problems confronting the Iloilo River Development Project that Drilon hopes to propel his native city as a major tourist destination in the country. Drilon said he has drawn inspiration from the Singapore Quays where the river is the center of economic and recreational activities. Drilon has tapped the services of renowned landscape architect Paolo Alcazaren to help design the infrastructure to make that happen. Another problem that could prove embarrassing to Drilon is the ugly sight of informal settler shanties on the western side of the Carpenters Bridge in Molo. On March 5, Drilon issued an ultimatum giving these informal settlers until March 30 to demolish their shanties or face forcible eviction. However, Mabilog hasn't taken any steps to carry out that directive from the Ilonggo senator. Drilon is scheduled to convene the IRDC tomorrow and assess the progress of the many activities lined up to pursue his dream project. Another issue that Drilon will have to confront is the unmitigated pollution of the Iloilo River. Previously, the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) has reported that more than 160 business establishments in the city dump their waste into the river. The EMB recommended to Mabilog not to issue business permits to businesses that fail to put up waste-water treatment facilities to reduce the pollution problem. However, Mabilog has sat on this recommendation without taking any steps to compel these businesses to discharge only "clean" waste water into the river, an official of the DENR said. "The failure of the city government to align its activities with the over-all objective of the project will only result in a superficial beautification of the river," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. "What's the use of a beautiful Esplanade when the water is still dirty, and the siltation hasn't abated a bit since Senator Drilon embarked on this noble project," he added. For its part, the DPWH said its dredger could deliver better results if only the city government provides for a bigger area as disposal site.

One of the dredger operators said that they could easily work in eight-hour shifts every day, but the disposal site issue restricts their operations. Noting their experience in one of their projects in Pampanga, the operators said that they could even stay almost 16 hours a day just to dredge the area. Meanwhile, Catuiran also added that the hauling equipment is also needed by the DPWH to transport the silted materials. He said that the DPWH has hauling equipment, but it is only intended for crisis management use.*