ILOILO City – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Region 6 said the economy of Western Visayas, more so of the city and province of Iloilo, is incurring losses because of the unusable P680-million Ungka flyover.
Engr. Arecio A. Casing, Jr., NEDA-6 director, said the poor traffic flow in Barangay Ungka II, Pavia Iloilo area affects commuters, motorists, and businessmen.
“The delaying time, the number of hours spent on the road… It could have been easier to pass through certain areas or minimize travel time. So if you convert that to monetary, that would be the losses incurred,” said Casing.
The country’s socioeconomic planning body has yet to determine the estimated amount of loss.
“Depends on the industry, so ‘pag you are in retail, it’s the number of cargo that got stuck on the roads. ‘Yon ‘yong estimation,” explained Casing.
However, Casing said motorists might make adjustments like opting not to pass through the Ungka area, taking alternative routes to avoid travel delays, or leaving earlier than usual.
“The loss would be considered based on the number of hours of delay. If you are a businessman, you make sure you’ll travel earlier than usual to go to the airport,” added Casing, who is also among those affected because he lives in the area.
The regional director said it would have been better if Ilonggos could benefit from the flyover that could shorten the travel time going to Iloilo City, where most national and local government offices and big business establishments are located.
On Sept. 2022, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) closed the flyover after vertical displacement was observed in piers 4, 5, and 6 (if counting the posts from Christ the King Memorial Park).
On March 2023, Abinales Associates Engineers + Consultants, based in Metro Manila, was hired by the DPWH for P13,480,880 to conduct a geotechnical investigation on the displacement.
Geotechnical investigation, according to trenchlesspedia.com, implies the use of different methods to determine the physical properties of soil and rock below the surface of the earth at a proposed installation site. It helps engineers decide the type of tools required to dig through the site in the most economical manner. It also assesses the potential environmental impact that a project may have on a particular area.
Geotechnical investigation is an essential step in any trenchless operation because knowledge of subsurface conditions is vital to a successful project.
On May 2023, Engr. Adam Abinales, managing partner of Abinales Associates Engineers + Consultants, recommended three schemes for the repair:
* Scheme 1: Provide additional bored piles.
Pros – Group pile capacity will significantly increase to sustain the required demand capacity at the pier base.
Cons – To drive the additional bored piles, affected existing prestressed concrete (PSC) girders on coping beams will be removed and replaced, if necessary, since large equipment will be used for drilling and driving bored piles.
* Scheme 2: Provide a portal frame to support the existing PSC girders.
Cons – To drive the new bored piles to construct and support the portal frame, right-of-way acquisition will be a great challenge; the portal frame will ignore the effect of the existing piers to support the PSC girders already installed.
* Scheme 3: Underpinning the existing piers and abutments, including existing bored piles, by intense jet grouting.
Pros – Underpinning will only require at least three meters of vertical clearance; therefore, existing PSC girders may not need to be removed and replaced.
Cons – Quantities of staged grouting will depend on the soil condition and stratum to develop the required pile capacity to sustain the demand load capacity at each pier/abutment. This scheme should be handled by the specialty contractor for intensive jet grouting, which is a proprietary specialty work. Verification is required by performing a static load test of the jet grouting.
Abinales recommended Scheme 1, or additional bored piles, as more feasible.
However, it needed at least P250 million to be implemented.
Helso gave a 10-month timeline to complete the recommended rectifications./PN
