Cebu City’s drainage system is long overdue for an upgrade — and local officials are finally addressing the issue head-on.

Ann Marie Cuizon, head of the Cebu City Planning and Development Office (CPDO), confirmed that the current drainage master plan was crafted back in 2004 and last updated in 2005. Since then, only about 20 percent of it has been implemented, and much of it is already outdated.

“The current plan is no longer enough to deal with rapid urbanization, climate change, and the recent flooding we’ve been seeing,” Cuizon wrote in a letter to the City Council.

She expressed full support for allocating P10 to P15 million for a feasibility study that would lay the foundation for a proposed P8.2-billion modernization of the city’s entire drainage system. To ensure the plan doesn’t meet the same fate as its predecessor, the CPDO recommended establishing clear project timelines, ensuring transparency through regular updates, and coordinating with agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways. The plan also calls for closer collaboration with neighboring cities such as Mandaue and Talisay, as well as active consultation with barangay leaders and residents.

Mayor Nestor Archival admitted that past drainage efforts have been fragmented and ineffective. He emphasized the need for a unified master plan that brings all future projects under a single, strategic framework.

While the feasibility study is being prepared, the city is also looking into several short- and long-term solutions. These include desilting and declogging existing waterways, building flood-control infrastructure such as detention ponds, gabion dams, and rainwater catchment systems, and pursuing regional partnerships with national agencies. Among the proposed projects are a P1-billion dam in Lusaran in collaboration with the National Irrigation Administration and a P300-million dam at Family Park with the Metropolitan Cebu Water District.

Mayor Archival also floated the idea of creating “swamp systems” in flood-prone areas — natural or man-made basins that could temporarily store excess rainwater during storms, with the help of pumps to drain the water afterward.

“We need solutions that are not just technical, but also practical and grounded in our local realities,” Archival said.

As the city continues to grapple with worsening floods, many residents hope this time, the plan won’t just remain on paper.