Aklan needs P1 billion for infrastructure to survive climate change

The province of Aklan needs billions of pesos worth of infrastructure projects to survive the continued onslaught of climate change.

Leo Bionat, assistant district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Aklan, said they are already using a P50-million road concreting project at the boundary of the diversion road of Barangays Jawili, Tangalan and Bugtong Bato in Ibajay.

“The incidents of falling rocks and scouring has been a perennial problem every time there is a heavy downpour of rain [brought about by climate change] in the area. We had initially allocated P50 million to fix the area, but the problem continues to worsen,”  he added.

Bionat said they also asked the DPWH to increase its budget for the province to stabilize the highway. The diversion road is being used by tourists bound to Boracay from Kalibo, especially those who have private cars.

“The diversion road is currently only partially open for transport. We hope to open the diversion road fully by September,” he said.

Earlier, the local government of Kalibo sought the help of the DPWH to provide funds for the full operation of a municipal-wide drainage system to fix the flooding problem of Kalibo.

In a report of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the towns of Kalibo, Banga, Madalag, Balete, New Washington, Libacao, Lezo and Altavas were the most prone to flooding in the province.

“In the past few decades, because of climate change, our storm drains as big as 10 to 15 inches in diameter, which have been replaced with box-culvert types of 4 to 6 feet deep, are still not enough to prevent two months worth of rain with a worst-case scenario of 100 years worth of rain,” said Terence Toriano of the Kalibo Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Office.

“Prevention is impossible, as we do not have the type of budget needed amounting to billions of pesos, while mitigation like the regular drainage declogging is not enough with the amount of rain similar to the ones we frequently experience during heavy rains,” he added.

The town is located in an average of high to very high flood-susceptibility tract of land, while only parts of Barangay Tigayon and most of Barangay Linabuan Norte are located in a low flood-susceptibity area.

In Boracay, the local government of Malay,  Aklan, also needs billions of pesos to mitigate the problem of flooding in the  main road.