ILOILO – Who should repair the defective Ungka flyover in Barangay Ungka II, Pavia town?
The repair is estimated to cost at least P250 million.
On Monday morning, May 15, Engr. Adam Abinales, managing partner of Abinales Associates Engineers + Consultants, presented three schemes of rectification to arrest the vertical displacement or settlement on the piers of the Ungka flyover during the meeting of the Regional Development Council’s (RDC) Infrastructure Development Committee (IDC) chaired by Iloilo City’s Mayor Jerry Treñas.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) paid the third-party consulting firm P13,480,880 to conduct a geotechnical investigation that would determine the cause of the vertical displacement of settlement in piers 4, 5 and 6 and formulate the appropriate intervention for the defect.
The defective P680-million Ungka flyover’s project contractor is the International Builders Corporation (IBC) based in Iloilo City.
Undersecretary Roberto R. Bernardo of DPWH said they will conduct a bidding in adherence to Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act, to select the qualified bidder.
Bernardo said nothing about whether IBC is qualified to join the bidding for the P250 million rectification.
He explained that once they can secure the fund in 2024, they will immediately implement the rectifications. Its completion is expected around the last quarter of December 2024 or the first quarter of 2025.
When asked if there is a qualified contractor in Western Visayas that could implement the rectifications, Abinales said he knows a contractor based in Metro Manila instead and would recommend it to the DPWH.
“Hindi ko masagot ‘yan, pero sa Manila kasi mayroon akong kilala. Mayroon akong recommendation,” said Abinales.
The firm’s representative also recommended to the DPWH that it should remove and replace the girders on piers 4, 5 and 6 to give way to large and heavy equipment during the construction of additional bored piles.
Abinales said the additional bored piles at piers 4, 5 and 6 should have a depth of 40 meters or more. Currently, the bored piles are only 28 meters deep in pier 4 and 26 meters deep in piers 5 and 6.
For the remaining 13 piers, Abinales recommended underpinning the existing piers and abutments, including existing bored piles, by intense jet grouting. The jet grouting should be 100 meters deep to arrest the settlement, he added./PN
