MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of the Philippines (UP) "to strengthen Metro Manila's flood resilience through building rainwater impounding sites inside the campus."
"The collaboration is in support of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s Oplan Kontra Baha Initiative, where 39 detention basins are planned to be built initially under the Metro Manila Sponge City Project to mitigate flooding in the region," the MMDA said in a statement on Wednesday.
"What we want is for our cities to withstand, absorb, and temporarily store the water and safely discharge it," MMDA Chairman Don Artes said.
Artes announced that the UP Resilience Institute (UPRI)-NOAH was studying five more areas that could serve as either a nature-based solution site or as a rainwater impounding facility. Those five areas could be added to what the MMDA described as the "originally identified site in the study conducted by Dutch engineering firm Haskoning."
"Artes said the MMDA is currently in talks with UPRI-NOAH Executive Director Dr. Alfredo Mahar Lagmay for the possible expansion of the Efficient Flood Control Operating System (EFCOS), which currently determines the volume of the rain from upper Marikina, to widen its scope and cover the whole Metro Manila," the MMDA said.
