PH gets $142-M Jica loan for flood control project

The Philippine and Japanese governments have signed a 15.93-billion yen (about $142 million) loan to build a flood control project in Cavite, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

In a statement, the DOF said Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Japan International Coordination Agency’s (Jica) chief representative to the Philippines Susumo Ito signed the loan agreement for the Cavite Industrial Area Flood Risk Management Project in Malacañang on Monday.

The agreement was signed in the presence of President Duterte and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The Cavite Industrial Area Flood Risk Management Project was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority board.

Based on documents, the Department of Public Works and Highways was planning to start construction in October next year for completion in April 2024.

The project will mitigate flooding caused by overflow and convergence of Ylang Ylang and Rio Grande rivers in San Juan River as well as the poor drainage system at Maalimango Creek, according to the document.

It will have two components, the first of which is river flood mitigation through the 2.4-kilometer San Juan River diversion channel on top of widening Ylang Ylang and Rio Grande rivers by 2.8 kilometers and 4.2 kilometers, respectively.

The second component will involve improvement of Maalimango Creek’s catchment area drainage by widening the creek by two kilometers as well as building two diversion channels 1-km and 3.5-km long.

Up to 7,964 households will be relieved from potential flooding through the project.

It will benefit the cities of General Trias and Imus and the municipalities of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario, where economic zones that produced $5.5 billion worth of exports last year are located.—BEN O. DE VERA