More consultations sought on Leyte’s ‘Great Wall’ project

TACLOBAN CITY, Jan. 15 (PNA) - The Regional Development Council (RDC) asked the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to consult more experts prior to the implementation of the PHP7.9 billion tide embankment project along Leyte’s coastal communities badly hit by storm surges in 2013.

In a statement posted Thursday by the RDC’s secretariat, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the highest policy-making body conditionally endorsed during its fourth quarter 2015 meeting.

“The RDC endorsed the project subject to the conduct of consultation with the experts to be participated by professionals,”

These experts are affiliated with University of the Philippines - Marine Science Institute, Ateneo de Manila University-Manila Observatory, Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Reconstruction, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, and the Area Management Committees of the Local Governments Tacloban City, Palo and Tanauan.

RDC private sector representative Oliver Cam of the Leyte Chamber of Commerce and Industry strongly suggested the consultation of experts to look into the details of the project.

“Cognizant of the critical relevance and huge investment requirement of the Project on Storm Surge Protection: Road Heightening and Tide Embankment for Tacloban-Palo-Tanauan, Leyte, the full council endorsed the project,” the RDC said in a statement.

The council deferred the approval of the “Great Wall” project during its third quarter meeting due to numerous concerns raised by various sectors.

The 27.3-kilometer “Great Wall” project stretches from Diit village in Tacloban to Cabuynan village in Tanauan town.

Sections 1 to 3 are in Tacloban, section 4 are the coastal villages of Tacloban and Palo, section 5 are some areas in Palo and Tanauan, and section 6 in Tanauan town.

The four-meter high structure, designed to shield coastal communities from big waves, was pushed through by President Benigno S. Aquino III after the 2013 storm surges wiped out neighborhoods in Leyte province.

The PHP7.9 billion project include civil works and right of way acquisition broken down in four years – PHP1.46 billion for 2016, PHP1.19 billion for 2017, PHP2.64 billion for 2018, and PHP2.64 for 2019.

The DPWH aims to start the project within the first quarter of 2016, starting in Palo town.

The DPWH-Bureau of Design is still reviewing the revised plan for the project. (PNA)
ZST/SARWELL Q. MENIANO

Gov’t pours Php320.6M for health facility upgrade in Eastern Visayas

TACLOBAN CITY, Dec. 24 (PNA) – The Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will embark on a Php320.6-million Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP), which seeks to build and upgrade barangay (village) health stations, rural health units, and local government hospitals in Eastern Visayas.

DOH Regional Director Minerva Molon said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) recently released the 2015 appropriations, which will be fully implemented next year.

“It took a while for the national government to disburse the budget since the secretaries of DPWH, DOH and DBM have to agree on some policies,” Molon explained.

“On our part, we also have to conduct assessment to ensure that there would be no duplication of assistance from the government and non-government organizations.”

The Php320.6 million is on top of the multi-million outlay for HFEP that will be constructed by the health department. The two government agencies agreed that projects worth Php1 million and above will be handled by DPWH.

The DOH official has no available data on DOH-implemented HFEP projects during the interview, but according to her, majority of the projects are under the watch of DPWH.

“Our district engineers have been coordinating with the DOH and local government units regarding the conduct of site visitation to check the actual buildable space for the preparation of detailed plans,” said DPWH Regional Director Rolando M. Asis.

Of the Php320.6 million, Php13.9 million are intended for 13 village health stations, Php62.9 million for 24 rural health units, and Php243.8 million for 13 hospitals managed by local government units.

Broken down to provinces, Northern Samar got the highest HFEP allocation at Php105.5 million, followed by Southern Leyte (Php67 million), Leyte (Php61.7 million), Eastern Samar (Php36.2 million), Samar (Php26.2 million), and Biliran (Php24 million).

Nationwide, the budget department has released Php3.3 billion for 2015 HFEP under the DOH-DPWH partnership. (PNA)
LAP/Sarwell Q. Meniano

DPWH says all Northern Samar nat’l roads now passable after ‘Nona’

TACLOBAN CITY, Dec. 16 (PNA) – All national road networks in typhoon-ravaged Northern Samar province are now passable, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported on Wednesday.

DPWH regional information officer Antonieta Lim said that the two Northern Samar district engineering offices managed to clear the primary and secondary highway from toppled trees, electric posts, and landslide debris on Wednesday morning.

“All road networks are now passable to all types of vehicles, but the extent of damage is still subject to assessment of maintenance engineers,” Lim said.

The DPWH earlier reported that typhoon Nona’s impact has rendered some road sections in Northern Samar impassable.

These are roads linking the towns of Mapanas to Palapag Road, Allen to Catarman, and Lope De Vega to Catarman.

Lim said that nearby DPWH field offices within the typhoon’s path in Samar and Eastern Samar provinces have no reported typhoon-related damages to roads and bridges.

The entire Northern Samar province has been suffering power outages since Monday morning due to damaged transmission lines and electric posts, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines. (PNA)
FFC/SQM

Northwest Leyte road sections get Php34.38M for improvement

ORMOC CITY, Leyte, Dec. 15 (PNA) – The Department of Public Works and Highways 4th Leyte Engineering District announced that it would soon begin road improvement projects worth Php34.48 million funded from the Motor Vehicle Users’ Charge.

The highest allocation is the installation of thermo-plastic signages at the Kananga-Tongonan road worth Php11 million.

A section of the Palo-Carigara-Ormoc road will undergo asphalt overlay of concrete shoulder for P10 million while a section of the Palompon-Isabel-Merida-Ormoc road will be widened for Php5.48 million. Also, the shoulder of the Ormoc-Baybay-Southern Leyte boundary road will be paved for Php8 million.

Meanwhile, the P71 million three-kilometer road concreting project at the Merida-Lundag road is going on full blast and is expected to be completed by mid-2016.

District Engineer Lino Francisco Gonzales is hoping for an extra release of funds next year to concretize the remaining three kilometers of that road.

He also expects that by that time, only four kilometers or 1.5 percent of the entire 200-km. national road length of northwestern Leyte will remain non-concreted. (PNA)
LAP/SQM/FNC

DPWH Eastern Visayas aims for ISO certification

PALO, Leyte, Dec. 9 (PNA) – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regional office here is in the process of getting ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certification, in line with the administration’s call for improved public service delivery.

DPWH Regional Director Rolando Asis said the field office here is one of the offices directed by Secretary Rogelio Singson to undergo the ISO 9001:2008 assessment and certification process.

“This is a long process, but we’re heading to that direction. We are pushing all employees to raise the standard of providing service,” Asis said.

An organization gets ISO 9001:2008 certificate if it is able to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product or services that meet customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, according to the ISO website.

Another consideration is the enhancement of customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

Early this year, included in the DPWH Quality Management Service ISO 9001:2008 certificate of registration are nine services, six bureaus, two pilot regional offices (National Capital Region and Region 11), and two pilot district engineering offices (South Manila and Davao 1st District) for a total of 19 offices.

For the second phase, Singson has directed 33 DPWH offices comprising five Unified Project Management Offices, the remaining 14 regional offices with one corresponding pilot district office each to undergo the same ISO 9001:2008 assessment and certification process.

In Eastern Visayas, tagged as pilot for ISO assessment is the Leyte 4th district engineering office in Ormoc City. (PNA)
FPV/SARWELL Q. MENIANO

DPWH Leyte office fast tracks construction of school buildings

TACLOBAN CITY, Dec. 4 (PNA) -– The Leyte 2nd Engineering District of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH 2nd LED) is fast tracking the construction of 79 units of school building for the Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education (K to 12) program costing PhP413 million and funded under the Department of Education’s Basic Educational Facilities Fund (BEFF).

As of end of November, the district office has completed three senior high school buildings in three different towns.

One is the two-classroom school buildings at the Sta. Ana National High School, La Paz town. The project cost is PhP1.78 million.

Another is a one-storey, four-classroom school building at Guinarona National High School in Dagami town. The classrooms also have toilets attached. This project was completed earlier than the targeted date on December 7, 2015.

Meanwhile, in Pastrana town, the one-storey, three classroom building with toilets has been completed at the Bahay Elementary School.

All the classrooms are expected to be finished by next March to comply with DepEd’s directive to finish them before the start of the implementation of Grades 11 and 12 in the next school year.

DPWH is expected to provide half of the number of needed classrooms for the first year implementation of SHS and the other half in 2016 in preparation for the second year implementation in 2017.

As part of the ongoing preparations for the full implementation of the K to 12 Program particularly the Senior High School (SHS) in SY 2016-2017, the Department of Education continues to undertake efforts to adequately address the needs and ensure the success of the Senior High School Program in the region.

The completion of two additional years is expected to equip students with skills that will prepare them better, whether they decide to pursue higher education, employment, middle level skills development, or entrepreneurship in the future.

SHS under the K to 12 curriculum officially opens in school year 2016-2017 with the enrollment of students in Grade 11, followed by Grade 12 in school year 2017-2018. (PNA)
LAP/SQM/AHLETTE C. REYES

DPWH Leyte office gets PHP1.2-B outlay for 2016

TACLOBAN CITY, Nov. 30 (PNA) – The Leyte Second Engineering District of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH 2nd LED) got a P1.2 billion approved budget under its National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2016.

District Engineer Carlos Veloso said they were pushing for a higher 2016 budget; but, still glad that they will be granted projects that would strengthen infrastructure facilities in the district.

Under the budget, the 2nd LED will undertake a total of 59 projects amounting to PhP450 million. The rest of the projects with a total allocation of PhP700 million is through the DPWH Eastn Visayas regional office.

Among the priority project for 2016 is the repair and rehabilitation of 18 bridges. Most of bridge within the area are either old or have been damaged by heavy rains and water flow during the past typhoons.

Also appropriated under NEP are widening and road reblocking along the Palo-Carigara-Ormoc road. Veloso said that this vital highway that cuts across Leyte province have been steadily widened in order to accommodate increasing traffic flow.

Meanwhile, another PhP50 million is allocated for the Burauen-Albuera road in 2016. This budget is seen to complete the Burauen side of the project according to Veloso.

The DPWH will also handle various works on access roads leading to tourism destinations in Leyte’s second district.

In a recent report by the Department of Budget and Management, the DPWH , as a whole, will receive PhP394.5 billion under the 2016 National Expenditure Program (NEP). This amount is PhP90.4 billion or 29.7 percent more than its 2015 budget of PhP304.1 billion.

Under the 2016 proposed budget, the allocation for public infrastructure now stands at five percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), higher than the 4.3 percent of GDP for infrastructure outlays in 2015, and in line with the Administration’s budget goal for infrastructure investments.

As the government’s lead construction agency, the DPWH’s budget allocation is the second biggest among government departments. In 2016, the DPWH plans to complete the paving of all national arterial and secondary roads, as well as the continuing development of the national road network—including tertiary roads—and the preservation of road assets.

The DPWH will also handle various works on access roads leading to airports, ports, and tourism destinations. (PNA)
CTB/SQM/ACR

DPWH completes PhP1.81-B post-‘Yolanda’ rehab projects

TACLOBAN CITY, Nov. 29 (PNA) – Two years after super typhoon “Yolanda” battered Eastern Visayas provinces, about PhP1.81 billion worth of infrastructure projects have been completed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) under the post-disaster rehabilitation and recovery.

The region got PhP2.46 billion for rehabilitation of infrastructure damaged by the typhoon's fierce winds, flood waters and storm surges in November 2013, with a total of 137 projects, according to DPWH Regional Director Rolando M. Asis.

As of end-October, 106 projects had already been completed by the national government with a consolidated projects cost of PhP1.81 billion. There are still 26 ongoing projects and five that have not yet started.

“Projects in badly-hit areas like in Tacloban, Palo, Tanauan, Tolosa and some part of Samar are now complete. We are almost done with all our recovery projects related to post-Yolanda recovery in other areas,” Asis said.

These projects have been implemented in the provinces of Leyte, Biliran, Eastern Samar and some parts of Northern Samar and Southern Leyte.

Tagged as priority for rehabilitation are road slips, slope protection, DPWH office buildings, critical road sections, bridges, flood control, and road resurfacing.

The DPWH is also tasked to reconstruct 22 damaged local government buildings with a budget of PhP794 million. As of end of last month, four projects have been completed, 11 are ongoing, and seven have not yet started. (PNA)
SCS/SARWELL Q. MENIANO

DPWH embarks on massive bridge repair in Southern Leyte

MAASIN CITY, Nov. 27 (PNA) –- The Department of Public Works and Highways Southern Leyte District Engineering (DPWH-SLDEO) is bracing for the massive rehabilitation of old bridges in the next two years.

District Engineer Ma. Margarita Junia said 47 bridges will be rehabilitated in 2016 while more structures are now subject to Bridge Management System (BMS) for 2017 repair activities.

“The result of this BMS is the basis for our funding as to what bridge needs repair in 2017,” Junia said.

This year, 37 bridges have been rehabilitated by SLDEO. The total outlay for bridge retrofitting, rehabilitation and strengthening is PHP408 million.

For 2016, the bridge rehabilitation activities require PHP576.97 million, which accounts more than a third of the PHP1.45 billion proposed budget for next year.

Listed for 2016 major repair are bridges of Lilloan, Magaupas, Magkasag, Mayuga, Nahaong, Agogong, Awayon, Biliran, Bonbon, Caaga, Calayugan, Calian, Candatag, Canluwis, Canlupao, Cantamuac, Canumay, Casao, Concepcion, Dinahugan, Higusoan, Hilogtogan, Hipgasan, Iniguihan.

Also up for rehabilitation are bridges of Looc, Mag-ata, Mahalo, Mapait, Maslog 1, Maslog 2, Padre Burgos, Pintuyan 1, Pintuyan 2, Sagbok, San Joaquin, San Jose, San Ricardo, San Roque, San Vicente, Sangaahon, Son-ok, Sta Cruz 1, Sta. Cruz 2, Sudmon, Timba, and Villa Jacinta.

“Some of these bridges have been existing since 1970s. There’s really a need for these bridges to undergo major rehabilitation,” Junia added.

The SLDEO simultaneously conducts bridge inspection for 2016 projects and BMS of old bridges for 2017 activities.

The BMS bridge data are annually collected based on the bridge inventory and condition surveys being conducted by the accredited bridge inspectors from the district office. The accredited regional BMS coordinators from the regional office do the supervision quality checking of the BMS bridge data.

The bridge data collected from the surveys are encoded in the Bridge Inventory Condition stand alone program and uploaded in the repository of all national road and bridge data.

The BMS team in the central office manages the uploading and quality assurance of the BMS data, as well as the conduct of the BMS analysis.

The BMS analyze and generate a list of priority bridges that require major maintenance and replacement which can be funded locally or foreign-assisted bridge programs in the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA).

The province has 153 bridges along the national road with a combined length of more than two kilometers.

The province has the most number of bridges in the region. Of the total number of bridges, 139 are concrete, and 14 are steel. (PNA)
JMC/SQM/QUIRICO M. GORPIDO, JR.

Leyte mayors back DPWH’s tide embankment project

PALO, Leyte, Nov. 25 (PNA) – Mayors in Leyte province have welcomed the tide embankment project of the Department of Public Works and Highways as it would protect coastal communities from threats of rising seas.

Palo Mayor Remedios Petilla said there were many concerns raised during the consultation process, but these were all resolved through regular meetings with concerned agencies, village officials, and affected communities.

“I support the project because it is an important defence against destructive waves. It will not completely stop the impact of major disaster, but it will help mitigate,” Petilla told reporters.

“A protection of whatever magnitude is better than none. You have to remember that the storm surge was the major reason why many people perished,” she added.

Mayor Pelagio Tecson of neighboring Tanauan town said their town has been consulted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the preparation stage.

“There’s no problem on our part because we have been relocating families away from danger zones. Any help to protect us is welcome,” Tecson told PNA.

In contrast, Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez said the national government should prioritize first the water system project for relocation sites before the “giant seawall.”

The absence of sustainable water system has been derailing the transfer of families from danger zones to resettlement sites. Consequently, the DPWH could not immediately proceed with the construction in highly populated communities.

DPWH Assistant Regional Director Edgar Tabacon agreed that there are many concerns in Tacloban than in nearby towns since there are more structures that would be demolished and more activities would be disrupted.

“We will hold it in abeyance for Tacloban area, as government looks for long term solutions to different issues and concerns. We will probably start the construction in Palo and Tanauan, since those areas are less populated,” Tabacon said in a phone interview.

The 27.3-kilometer project stretches from Diit village in Tacloban to Cabuynan village in Tanauan town. Sections 1 to 3 are in Tacloban, section 4 are coastal villages of Tacloban and Palo, section 5 are some areas in Palo and Tanauan, and section 6 in Tanauan town.

The four-meter high structure, designed to shield coastal communities from big waves, was pushed through by President Benigno Aquino III after the 2013 storm surges wiped out neigborhoods in Leyte province.

The PHP7.9 billion “Great Wall” project include civil works and right of way acquisition broken down in four years – PHP1.46 billion for 2016, PHP1.19 billion for 2017, PHP2.64 billion for 2018, and PHP2.64 for 2019. (PNA)

JMC/SARWELL Q. MENIANO