ILOILO City – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. wants the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Western Visayas to prioritize access roads for people whose mobility are affected by damaged roads and bridges due to Severe Tropical Storm “Paeng”.
The President was in Antique yesterday to personally check the situation and confer with various government agencies.
“The biggest problems I see are infras that we have to fix kasi malalaki ang sira. For the Public Works, siguro unahin natin, as a priority, is to find a way first for people to be able to travel and transport food. Basta mabuksan somehow. Mga light lang muna, mga motorsiklo lang muna — pero eventually we really want to get even the trucks na makakadaan,” Marcos told DPWH Region 6.
He also ordered the repair of roads and bridges that have minor damages the soonest possible time.
Based on the report of DPWH-6 director Nerie Bueno, the restoration of damaged infrastructure needs around P1.8 billion.
According to Bueno, 119 infrastructure projects were damaged by the storm region-wide. Sixty-eight of these were roads, 41 were bridges and 10 were flood control structures.
At present, Bueno said, five roads/bridges are still impassable to all types of vehicles. These are the Paliwan Bridge, Igmataning Bridge and Pisa-anan road in Antique; and Oyungan Bridge in Miag-ao and Guimbal-Igbaras-Tubungan road in Guimbal in Iloilo province.
The two major bridges – Paliwan Bridge and Oyungan Bridge – have an estimated cost of restoration amounting to P355 million and P321 million, respectively.
Bueno reported that the Antique District Engineering Office (DEO) has the biggest infrastructure damage needing P497.033 million for the restoration which include the construction of new bridge parallel to Paliwan Bridge.
The following are the cost of restoration needed for each DEO with reported infrastructure damage:
* Aklan DEO – P80 million
* Capiz 1st DEO – P150 million
* Capiz 2nd DEO – P76.860 million
* Iloilo 1st DEO – P215 million
* Iloilo 2nd DEO – P248 million
* Iloilo 3rd DEO – P95.235 million
* Iloilo 4th DEO – P70.600 million
* Negros Occidental 1st DEO – P16 million
* Negros Occidental 2nd DEO – P205.7 million
* Negros Occidental 3rd DEO – P9.670 million
* Negros Occidental Sub-DEO – P113.881-million
Bueno proposed to the President to construct a new bridge as replacement to Paliwan Bridge because it is already weak and old at 48 years.
The lady regional director told the President that if the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) authorizes them, the regional office will use the P91 million supposedly for retrofitting purposes to start the construction of the new bridge which will have a total project cost of P355 million.
Bueno noted that because the water level is getting higher, the new bridge must be constructed higher than the elevation of the existing bridge, probably by another three meters.
“This year, we have fund allocation to strengthen the bridge pero hindi na naming nagawa kasi na-wash out na nga po. We still have a balance of P91 million. I just arrived from Manila and I personally requested from the central office if they can assist to ask DBM to authorize us to use that balance of P91 million to start constructing the new bridge. Sayang naman po if i-retrofit pa namin ‘yan (old bridge) or ilalagay ang pera sa the same bridge when in fact hindi na sya ganun ka effective,” Bueno explained to the President.
Meanwhile, as a temporary remedial measure, ground works are ongoing in the Paliwan Bridge to provide temporary access road to the residents and motorists.
Bueno said they are planning to rechannel the river to dry the washed out area of the bridge. The extracted or dredged materials from the area where the flow of water will be rechanneled will be used for the embankment of the portion of the bridge that was washed out so that people can pass through the embankment.
After the embankment, another access which is the 50-meter bailey bridge will be constructed.
“It will take us, may be before Christmas, ma-o-open po natin ‘yun,” said Bueno.
The DPWH-6 regional director added that they also planned to provide off-channel crossing at the rechanneled river where big trucks and other vehicles can pass through once the water subsided.
“You are allowed to move fund within the department…if you had savings on one project, pwede mong dalhin sa isa,” the President commented./PN
