CEBU CITY, Sept. 4 – The Cebu City Government is tapping the private sector in managing and rehabilitating the city’s rivers that have become “canals to garbage” due to decades of neglect.
The city also launched during the start of the National Clean Up Month celebration this September the “Adopt a River, Adopt a Barangay” project of the Cebu City River Management Council (CCRMC).
Cebu City Councilor Nida Cabrera said the project will focus on rehabilitating the Guadalupe River, which had deteriorated over the years and is now anaerobic, or no longer has oxygen.
Cabrera, who chairs the City Council’s committee on environment, said several non-government organizations and educational institutions will adopt one of the 12 barangays situated along the Guadalupe River.
The barangays tha will be adopted include Guadalupe, Kalunasan, Ermita, Sambag 1, Sambag 2, Pahina San Nicolas, Pasil, San Nicolas Proper, Sapangdaku and Capitol site.
Cabrera said massive information and education campaign will be conducted within the barangays on the importance of rehabilitating and protecting the Guadalupe River.
Another component of the project, Cabrera said, is regaining the three-meter easement along the riverbanks, as well as the Food for Work Program designed for residents in the barangays to clean and desilt their drainage systems, canals, esteros, rivers and other waterways in exchange for rice and canned goods.
At present, majority of the schools, partner companies and organizations, which include the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, still need to choose the barangay they would want to adopt.
Cabrera said they are “starting from square one” in the effort to rehabilitate and manage the Guadalupe River, but she said they will make sure their new program will be sustainable.
On September 18, the CCRMC will conduct a “Cebu Great River Clean-Up Day” from 7 to 10 a.m.
Apart from being celebrated as National Clean Up Month, September has been declared as the Ozone Protection and Water Conservation month. (PNA) LAP/EB/bh