New dredgers arrive in Maguindanao

BULUAN, Maguindanao – Silted rivers in this province are set for massive dredging soon, following the arrival here of two custom-built dredgers purchased by the provincial government to mitigate perennial flooding, and beef up farming activities in constituent-villages, officials announced yesterday.

Provincial Engineer Abdulrahmam Asim said the two amphibious dredging machines were delivered last Friday to the provincial government by the Jinyi Import and Export Trading Co. Inc. (JIETCI), a Chinese firm supplying modern heavy equipment with a branch in Davao City.

JIETCI won the bidding conducted earlier by the provincial government for the two dredging machines custom-built for the geographic settings of rivers and marshes in Maguindanao, Asim said.

“The supplying firm is expected to send in Filipino technicians in a few days to train our workers in the operation of the machines, which cost some P14-million each,” Asim told the Bulletin.

He said the dredging operations will be done continuously on all silted rivers and marshes associated with most of the 36 towns in this province.

Initial dredging will cover heavily silted portions of Pulangi and Buluan Rivers, both streams known for high water surge spilling floods to low-lying towns during rainy days, he said

The two dredgers will become part of a fleet of 25 heavy equipment units purchased out of the P200-million segment of the P1.9-billion loan granted last year by the Land Bank of the Philippines to the provincial government. The other units include backhoes, pay-loaders, dump trucks, road rollers, bulldozers and graders. (Ali G. Macabalang)