Quick-dry cement eyed to fast track road repairs
The Department of Public Works and Highways-7 is planning to purchase a quick-drying but expensive type of cement to fast track road repairs, especially in areas that have high traffic volume.
DPWH-7 information officer Marie Nillama said there were already initial talks with the representatives of the cement factory in Cebu and public works engineers and officials.
“Initially naay offer ang usa ka cement factory nga ang semento nila dali ra gyud mauga. Mga one day ra mauga na. Pero mahal lang gyud siya,” said Nillama.
Nillama, however, said the government can save cost on labor because it can cure within one day.
“Dali ra man mahuman ang project. So, bisan mahal ang semento but if we can save on the manpower, mas maayo tingali ni. But nothing is final yet,” Nillama said.
Nillama also explained why some good roads are being repaired by the agency. She said that these roads, which appeared to be good on the surface, are actually damaged under as detected by the computerized road condition equipment.
“Ang makita nato sa ibabaw sa roads kay walay guba but sa ilalom ana using our computerized equipment kay nag scaling or nangapakpak na sa ilalom,” Nillama said.
She said road assessment was conducted by the national office before actual repairs were conducted. “Di na namo basta basta bakbakon lang kung walay guba kay i-check gyud na sa among mga engineers and assessed and approved by our head office for inclusion of funding,” said Nillama.
Meanwhile, most of the complaints lodged before the DPWH-7 hotline are on traffic and ongoing road rehabilitation. DPWH-7 uses hotline 0324116776 to receive complaints from the public.
DPWH-7 has over a hundred ongoing infrastructure projects in Central Visayas amounting to billions of pesos. Nillama said it is unfortunate that some complaints were directed to them even if the road repairs are done by the local government unit.
“Kami gyud ang dakdakan pirmi when it comes to traffic kay tungod lagi aning mga road projects and it turned out nga di na amoa but sa LGU,” said Nillama.
Nillama also lamented that some road widening projects have long been completed but heavy traffic is still affecting the area. She cited Plaridel Street in Mandaue City.
She blamed the traffic problem on the illegal parking and on vendors occupying the road.