THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has deployed additional equipment to speed up the cleanup of the 1.5-kilometer stretch of Manila Bay along Roxas Boulevard.

“We are targeting a full clean-up by July 2019,” Undersecretary Emil Sadain said.





The DPWH official said two units of the multipurpose amphibious dredger Watermaster Classic 5 were added to the existing dredging and excavator machines in place along the bay.

The machines, he added, would help fast-track the cleanup of the stretch of the bay between the US Embassy and Manila Yacht Club ahead of the rainy season.

On March 5, 2019, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar officially launched desilting operations in Manila Bay by deploying a fleet of equipment consisting of amphibious excavators, dumping scows, dump trucks, a debris segregator, street sweepers and vacuum sewer jet cleaners.

The cleanup operations at the Manila Bay area was divided by the DPWH into five areas measuring 200 to 300 meters.

To date, the total volume of muck and silt removed from a 20-meter distance from shore to bay, and thickness or depth of 2 meters, is estimated at 18,000 cubic meters.

The DPWH’s Bureau of Equipment, with the assistance of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and Philippine Coast Guard, has been conducting water quality monitoring and bathymetric surveying of the desilting sites to monitor progress.

The average amount of dissolved oxygen level, one of the main parameters of water quality, has improved from 4.7 milligrams per liter (mg/L) prior to the cleanup to 6mg/L, a level said to be necessary for sustaining aquatic life.