Posted by ANC 24/7 on Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Rains trigger floods at Maysilo Circle and Boni in Mandaluyong City in this September 10, 2014 file photo by Dennis Datu

MANILA - For months, the people along the street of San Francisco in Mandaluyong have been living with swirling dust on sunny days and muddy pavements when it rains.

The street is the focus of the P400 million Maysilo Circle Flood Control Project which started January last year. The project aims to drain large volume of water from areas of Mandaluyong and direct the flow to Pasig river.

But for Unos Macalantong, who makes a living along San Francisco street, the question is: when will the project be completed?

He has a place which sells large vases, vats and jars but since the project started January last year, they have lost a lot of money.

"Kasi itong proyekto ng DPWH inabot na ito ng dalawang taon. Eh syempre business namin nasa San Francisco, abala sa amin ito," said Macalantong, who is also the president of the Mandaluyong Muslim Chamber of Commerce.

"Baka pwede na gawan ng mabilis lang, para di nakaabala sa business dito, saka sa mga tao, napakahirap.''

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DWPH) said the project will be finished in May 2016, and the DPWH-National Capital Region (DPWH-NCR) said they still have four months to complete it.

DPWH-NCR Regional Director Melvin Navarro explained on Monday that based on their monitoring, the project suffered from unnecessary delays during the rainy season last year, which rendered the excavated site not suitable for work.

He explained that the project is being handled by the DPWH's Project Management Office (PMO) Flood Control under Director Patrick Gatan.

In an interview, Gatan explained that they were able to complete the other components of the project on streets and two creeks which serve as tributaries that funnel to the main drainage.

"Ang natitira na lang naming trabaho ay itong bahagi na ito, almost 58 percent na natapos namin dito," said Gatan.

Gatan explained that the remaining portion is the biggest component, as they are laying down an 8 x 8-meter traffic-type box culvert.

The DPWH said a traffic-type box culvert allows traffic to move above the structure. The previous capacity of the drainage of Maysilo that was built in 1980s was only 6 cubic meters per second. But with the new facility, the DPWH is expecting to draw out water from the city drainage at a rate of 36 cubic meters per second.

Gatan said, by May of this year, they will be done with the construction of the culvert and the road. The pumping station will be finished by June until August of this year.