P15-million fund proposed for Cebu City’s drainage master plan study

Local

IN A bid to solve worsening floods, Cebu City will fund a P10 million to P15 million study that will form the basis of a P8.2-billion drainage modernization project.

City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) head Ann Marie Cuizon, in a letter to the City Council dated September 8, admitted that the city’s existing drainage master plan, drafted in 2004 and last updated in 2005, is already obsolete. Only about 20 percent of its proposed projects have been implemented over the past two decades.

“The current plan is no longer sufficient to address the pressing realities of rapid urbanization, climate change, and recent flooding incidents,” Cuizon wrote. She added that the proposed study would provide the foundation for a unified and updated drainage master plan.

To ensure accountability, the CPDO recommended clear project timelines, regular public reporting, inter-LGU coordination with Mandaue and Talisay, and active community consultation at the barangay level.

The call for updates came after Councilor Joel Garganera, chair of the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction, described flooding as the city’s “most urgent” challenge in a privilege speech last August 19.

“Every time it rains, we watch history repeat itself. Our oldest street, Colon, suddenly transforms into the city’s oldest river,” Garganera said. “Flooding is not just an inconvenience—it is like a predator that disappears into the shadows, only to strike again in the next downpour.”

He pointed to past planning missteps—wetlands filled in, creeks covered, floodplains built over—that worsened today’s risks.

“Unless we update and modernize our drainage system, we will continue to suffer the consequences,” he warned.

Mayor Nestor Archival has also acknowledged that piecemeal drainage works have done little to address the flooding problem.

He said the city must pursue a single, cohesive master plan, while also rolling out immediate measures such as desilting and declogging of waterways.

Among the complementary initiatives under study are various flood-control systems, including detention ponds, gabion dams, and rainwater catchments.

The city is also collaborating on regional projects with national agencies, such as a P1-billion dam in Lusaran with the National Irrigation Administration and a P300-million dam at Family Park in partnership with the Metropolitan Cebu Water District. Additionally, the creation of "swamp systems" in flood-prone areas is being planned; these are designed to temporarily hold rainwater and drain it away using pumps.

The feasibility study, to be led by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the city’s Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW), may start late this year or early 2026. Its findings will determine the project’s final scope, cost, and phased rollout.

Given the scale of the P8.2-billion plan, full implementation is expected to take several years and will require close coordination between national agencies, local governments, and communities.(TGP)