DPWH to rebuild Sibonga bridge

Funds for P60M Dumlog Bridge ready; construction to begin first quarter of 2017

Engineer Nonie Paylado, DPWH chief of planning and design, said they have requested funding from their central office that will be taken from calamity funds 18-meter approach to the Dumlog bridge collapsed and was washed away during a flash flood caused by tropical storm Seniang in December 2014

THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will rebuild the Dumlog Bridge in Sibonga town two years after this was destroyed by a flood at the height of a typhoon.

Engineer Nonie Paylado, DPWH chief of planning and design, said they have requested for funding from their central office that will be taken from calamity funds.

Paylado said DPWH may be able to start the construction of the P60-million per- manent bridge in the first quarter of 2017 because the funds for the project were already released.

The DPWH central office has allocated about P60 million for the reconstruction of the concrete bridge.

Paylado said that he is not sure of the DPWH 2nd Engineering District’s timeline for the project, which will first undergo public bidding.

The 18-meter approach to the Dumlog bridge collapsed and was washed away during a flash flood caused by tropical storm Seniang in December 2014.

Due to the flood’s impact, the rip-rapped soil and rocks that formed part of the road were also w ashed away.

Landfall

At the time of the flood, Seniang had made a landfall in the municipalities of Ronda and Du- manhug, leaving serious damage to properties and infrastructure.

At least eight southern Cebu towns - Argao, Dalaguete, Alcoy, Boljoon, Oslob, Santander, Samboan and Ginatilan - were isolated. The delivery of basic commodities, particularly rice, fuel and vegetables, was cut and prices increased.

Passable

This prompted DPWH to construct a temporary bailey bridge on the approaches of the Dumlog bridge in order to make it passable again by vehicles.

It so happened that there were standby materials for the temporary bridge, which were brought to Cebu in 2014 as part of DPWH 7’s request for reserves for calamities. This was one of the lessons learned from the 7.2 magnitude earthquake on Oct. 15 of that year.

The steel bridge, which is just for temporary passage, is still being used until now.