PUBLIC Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan yesterday told senators the repaving and repair of “undamaged” roads are part of the agency’s “preventive maintenance” works to avoid the further deterioration of the infrastructures.
During the hearing on the proposed P821 billion budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for next year, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa asked Bonoan about the road repairs being undertaken by the DPWH.
In particular, Dela Rosa cited what he termed as “murmurs” (bulong-bulungan) on the reasons behind the repairs.
“Gusto ko lang tanungin kayo, ‘yung mga comment ng mga tao na nagmu-murmur ba. Sabihin na, ano ba itong DPWH, ‘yung kalsadang ito, matibay pa, maganda pa, binubungkal na. Tapos ‘yung sira-sira na kalsada, hindi ginagawa at hindi naaayos (I‘d like to raise this issue regarding the comments of some people about this. The people have been asking why the DPWH is fixing roads that are not damaged and still look good yet the roads that are already damaged are not reconstructed or repaired),” Dela Rosa said.
He added: “Kahit ako nagtatanong. Alam kong maliit na bagay lang ‘yan pero irritating on the part of the public. Merong magko-comment pa na sayang lang ang pera ng gobyerno dito. Hindi pa sira, binubungkal na (I am questioning this. I know this might be a petty issue, but this is irritating on the part of the public. There are some who say that government funds are being wasted on these projects. They are not damaged and yet they are being fixed).”
In response, Bonoan explained that some roads appear undamaged but have actually begun to deteriorate underneath.
He said it is better to already repave or do repairs on the roads before they deteriorate further.
“It’s a very technical issue ‘yung ganyan. Preventive maintenance and reconstruction ang pinag-uusapan po natin dito. Kasi there is a point when the road starts to deteriorate and it would be more economical actually to undertake preventive maintenance,” he said.
“Kaya ‘yung medyo maganda-ganda pa ang tingin ninyo pero actually the pavement starts to deteriorate (There are roads that still look good on the surface, but the pavement actually has started to deteriorate). So, it would be more economical to repave it at that point of time so we can save the base and sub-base. Hindi na ho natin gagalawin ‘yung base and sub-base (We will no longer fix the base and sub-base), it’s just the pavement that we need to replace,” he explained.
The DPWH chief said extensive repair and reconstruction would only be done on roads where the base and sub-base have already deteriorated.
But Bonoan’s explanation did not impress Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III who said that his answer was “hard to believe” and “very technical.”
“The answer was very technical. Mahirap paniwalaan. It goes against the inputs of our senses dahil nakikita ng mata mo, maayos pa eh, tapos sasabihin sayo, hindi, sa ilalim bulok na ‘yan. And yet, kapag may nakita kang bulok na e hindi naman inaaksyunan (The answer was very technical. It’s hard to believe. It goes against the inputs of our senses because your eyes can see that the road is okay, but then you’ll hear that it is already rotten underneath. And yet, when you see some roads that are rotten, nothing is being done on them),” Pimentel said.
Bonoan told Pimentel that the DPWH has an inventory of the conditions of roads and bridges in the country and that in checking the condition of such structures, they rely not only on ocular inspection but also on technology, including a computerized pavement management system and dynamic testing machines to determine the structural integrity and strength of the base and sub-base.
“We have a pavement management system which tells us actually what is the condition of the road, similar to the bridges, and what kind of intervention to undertake. It’s a little more systematic now at this time,” Bonoan said.
“We are implementing both visuals and some equipment that we have used actually to validate. We have dynamic testing machines. We also have roughness index measurement that is being inputted into the system and this is being centrally fed into our programs,” he added.
Of the DPWH proposed budget of P821 billion next year, P15 billion is allotted for the Special Road Fund, which Bonoan said can be used for preventive maintenance programs of the department.
Meanwhile, Bonoan told senators that the DPWH will rebid the consultancy for the detailed engineering design of the bridge project to connect the island provinces of Panay, Guimaras, and Negros.
He assured lawmakers the rebidding will not delay the awarding of the contract for the project by December this year.
“For Panay-Guimaras-Negros bridge project, the detailed engineering design is going to be rebid, ‘yung consultancy services for the detailed engineering design,” he said.
“The detailed engineering design will probably commence by early next year. After that, in one year, I think, we should be able to implement or start the civil works in 2025,” he added without explaining in detail the reason for the rebidding of the detailed engineering design.
Last year, DPWH Senior Undersecretary Emil Sadain said the detailed engineering design for the project is targeted to start by the first quarter of 2023.
The detailed engineering design includes the design covering the review of the feasibility study and preliminary and basic design, estimation of detailed construction cost, and procurement assistance.
The 32.47-kilometer-long bridge project involves the construction of two sea-crossing bridges connecting the three island provinces, with the link between Panay and Guimaras covering a length of 13 kilometers, including 4.97 kilometers for the bridge that will cross the sea.
On the other hand, the Guimaras-Negros section will cover 19.47 kilometers, including 13.11 kilometers for a sea-crossing bridge.
The DPWH said once completed, the bridge project will reduce travel time to less than an hour from the current three to four hours that involves the use of ferry boats.
Bonoan said the DWPH has secured a $56 million loan from South Korea’s Export Import Bank-Economic Development Cooperation Fund to fund the engineering services of the said bridge project.
Bonoan also told senators that the detailed engineering design for the 32-kilometer-long Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge is now almost complete.
He said the department will present the project for review to the National Economic Development Authority on Friday this week.
The said project will be financed by the Asian Development Bank to the tune of $200 million.
The NEDA approved the said project in 2020.
Once completed, it will help reduce travel time from Bataan to Cavite from the present five hours to around 40 minutes.
On the other hand, Sen. Grace Poe on Tuesday questioned why the 2024 proposed budget of the DPWH has more allocation for the construction of multi-purpose buildings than the creation of new school buildings despite the classroom shortage in the country’s public school system.
Poe noted that of the P821 billion DPWH budget, only P26. 12 billion would go for the construction of new school buildings compared to the P41.19 billion for the construction of multi-purpose buildings.
Earlier, DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis Cesar Bringas said classroom shortage in public schools hit 159,000 this school year, up from the previous year’s 91,000.
But Bringas said the 159, 000 is “accumulated’ shortage over the years and include the 440 classrooms totally damaged by typhoons and other natural calamities this year.
During the Senate hearing on the DepEd budget for 2024 last August, Bringas said the department would need at least P397 billion to address the current classroom backlogs.
“We have P41.19 billion worth of multi-purpose buildings scattered while school buildings will get only P26.12 billion but we have a shortage of 159,000 classrooms nationwide. So, why do you think this disparity?” Poe asked Bonoan.
Bonoan said he can propose additional funding for the construction of classrooms but the final decision rests on the priorities of the legislative district.
“I can only answer your honor on the extent of what is included in the department for multi-purpose building. What I can say is this is the consolidated priority projects of all legislative districts. This is part of what we call local infrastructure projects that are allocated for members of Congress to prioritize and this is what we have consolidated,” the DPWH chief said.
“We can always suggest, but at the end of the day, to be candid about it, it’s actually the priorities for the district,” he added.
He clarified under questioning from Poe that the DPWH does not have an allocation for classroom construction and that what they have is allocated by the DepEd.
He said that for this year, the DPWH got P15 billion from DepEd for the construction of 4,758 classrooms nationwide.
