ILOILO City – The P680-million defective Ungka flyover is a wake-up call for future big-ticket or superstructure projects in Western Visayas, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
Completed last September 2022, the flyover was closed to traffic two weeks after opening because it was found to be “sinking”.
The proposed Panay-Guimaras-Negros (PGN) mega bridge project should learn lessons from the Ungka flyover, said NEDA Region 6 officer-in-charge Arecio A. Casing Jr.
There must be rigorous geotechnical investigation prior to PGN’s implementation, he stressed.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Finance (DOF) are currently in a pre-procurement process for the detailed engineering design (DED) of the PGN bridges.
It was reported that the award for the selected proponent that will conduct the DED will be next month.
“On the pre-procurement process, dapat may track record, they’ve been in the business for a long time, and walang negative incident na nangyari… or blemish sa record,” said Casing in an exclusive interview with Panay News.
He added: “Given the experience with the Ungka flyover, even in the pre-engineering phase kailangan tutokan na ‘yong output ng designers natin.”
Casing stressed the importance of geotechnical investigation “in the design of any superstructure, how much more for a bridge that would be resting on the sea floor.”
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 make decisions regarding the type of tools that will be 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 key to a successful project.
2 YEARS OF PGN PRE-CONSTRUCTION
According to Casing, if the timeline is followed, the formulation of the DED will begin by April 2023. It will take two years to complete, or by April 2025.
After that, there will be the pre-construction phase, like the identification of financing by the DOF and procurement for the construction of the bridge.
“As targeted, it is to commence in 2025 and be completed within five years, or by 2030,” Casing added.
The NEDA-6 chief also disclosed that the South Korean government is interested in financing the Iloilo-Guimaras bridge segment of the PGN project through a loan.
Meanwhile, the DOF is taking measures to fund the Guimaras-Negros Occidental bridge segment.
MARCOS VERY RECEPTIVE TO BIG-TICKET PROJECTS IN WV
Casing said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is very receptive to big-ticket projects in the region.
“I personally presented this to him — the big-ticket project here — and he was very receptive. We identified several game-changing projects,” he said.
These are the Jalaur River Multi-purpose Project Stage II (JRMP II) in Calinog, Iloilo which is more than 50 percent complete, the proposed Panay Expressway, the Panay River Basin Integrated Development Project (PRBIDP) located in the north-eastern part of Panay Island, and the PGN bridges./PN
