Singson Orders Bikol DPWH Officials to Submit Plans for Rehab of Flood Damaged Infra

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 7  -- Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio Singson has directed the regional and district officials of the department in Bikol to submit a rehabilitation plan for the recently flood damaged infrastructure in Albay and Camarines Sur after his personal inspection of the damaged structures on.

Singson inspected the Padang Bridge in this city, the Lidong culvert in Sto. Domingo town, which was overrun by flood waters, the Tiwi-Sangay road wherein a 24-meter long landslide closed the highway to vehicular traffic on December 24 and 30 last year and the Inang Maharang spillway in Manito, Albay, where two persons were swept away by floodwaters.

In his directive to DPWH Bicol Regional Director Danilo Dequito, Singson stressed that only permanent engineering intervention should be recommended by the regional office for funding so that the structure could withstand flash floods and heavy rains.

The DPWH secretary also pointed out that the structures for rehabilitation should conform with the new policy of the agency that the structures to be constructed should be the right project at the right price and at the right quality.

At the recently held Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (RDRRMC) meeting, the DPWH reported that the damages to public infrastructure brought by floods and landslides that hit Bikol last December was estimated to reach P68.9 million.

In Camarines Sur, Sec. Singson sent Undersecretary Romeo Momo to inspect the recently damaged San Isidro bridge in Pamplona town which remained partially closed when a portion of the bridge collapsed last December 27. (PNA)