By Dennis Carcamo (philstar.com) August 23, 2009
MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority will be installing additional water pumps to ease the flooding in flood-prone parts of Metro Manila, MMDA chief Bayani Fernando said today (Aug. 23).
Fernando said the MMDA expects the water pumps in Libertad to be operational by October or November this year.
"Hindi na natin madadagdagan ang ating daluyang tubig kaya magdadagdag na tayo ng pambomba,"he said.
MMDA figures showed that around 130 cms per hour of rain poured down last week which caused massive flooding in the Metro.
The drainage system in Metro Manila is only designed to accommodate and handle 100 cms per hour of rain, Fernando said.
"Pero nagkakaproblema na tayo kahit 80 cms per hour ng ulan ang bumagsak dahil sa problema sa basura," he said.
He said the agency has also been "recovering" waterways from informal settlers.
Fernando estimated that there are 70,000 families living along waterways in Metro Manila.
He said half of these are qualified to avail of government housing loans.
"We are now using biometrics data... to discourage them [from selling] the property awarded to them," Fernando said.
Philstar
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