ILOILO City – All these years, the safety of the riding and driving public has always been its priority, stressed the International Builders Corp. (IBC), contractor of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) P680-million Ungka flyover.
DPWH and IBC vowed to address the issues hounding the infrastructure project in Barangay Ungka II, Pavia, Iloilo during a recent meeting in Manila with Public Works secretary Manuel Bonoan.
Also present at the meeting were DPWH Western Visayas officials and the department’s Bureau of Design (BOD). They promised to fast-track the verification for the engineering interventions to address the problems besetting the flyover.
No less than Bonoan pledged to hasten the recommendation for the engineering intervention by sending a technical working group from DPWH-BOD to Iloilo.
Moreover, the parties agreed to wait for the results of the audit being conducted by a team that arrived this week from the DPWH central office to perform a comprehensive assessment of the flyover.
Earlier, the Regional Project Monitoring Committee (RPMC) of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) inspected the Ungka flyover.
RPMC members who joined the inspection were representatives from DPWH, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), engineers from NEDA Region 6, and Iloilo City officials headed by Councilor Ely Estante.
According to Marlon Jinon, chief of the Project Monitoring and Evaluation Division of NEDA-6, the visit aimed to come up with findings and recommendations that RPMC members would present and discuss at the NEDA-6 high-level meeting on Dec. 19.
As explained by Jinon, monitoring government-funded infrastructure projects is part of the RPMC members’ function, which includes evaluation and the formulation of recommendations on the implementation of development plans and programs in the region.
Meanwhile, DPWH-6 assistant regional director Jose Al V. Fruto also disclosed that the third-party consulting firm hired by the DPWH central office has not yet started its investigation on the Ungka flyover.
Fruto, who was also with the RPMC members during their inspection, added that the consulting firm’s personnel had already arrived in Iloilo City this week but were still doing preparatory work.
“Nakakadto lang sila para sa preparatory works… kon ano ang obrahon up to what level ang engagement, kon ano ang expectation para ma-define nila kon diin sila ma-mobilize sang equipment,” Fruto said in an exclusive interview of DYRI RMN Iloilo.
He did not, however, provide a timeline as to the firm’s investigation. It is the DPWH central office that is mainly communicating with the firm, he explained.
Fruto added that the firm will be conducting an in-depth investigation, especially since they are tasked with determining the cause of the vertical displacement in the piers of the flyover and to come up with recommendations for suitable engineering intervention./PN
