The 3rd Engineering District of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said Wednesday that the contractor’s lack of additional asphalt batching plant is causing the delay of road repairs along Malvar Street, Puerto Princesa City.
Engr. Arthur Torillo, the officer in charge of the DPWH engineering district, said that project contractor AR Lustre only has one batching plant to manufacture asphalt that will be used for the overlay.
Torillo said AR Lustre is the same contractor that is also doing other road repairs in the city simultaneous with Malvar Street.
“Ang contractor natin nito at ‘yong contractor natin sa Dagomboy ay iisa. Kaya mapapansin mo kung minsan may trabaho dito, sa kabila wala kasi iisa ang asphalt batching plant nila. Ang isang stretch ng plant nila ay 70 meters… kailangang makumpleto ‘yong 70 meters na haba kasi isang lutuan yan,” he also said.
(The contractor here is the same contractor doing road repairs in Dagomboy. If you will notice, sometimes there is work here, but there is none in Dagomboy because it only has one batching plant. One stretch of their plant is 70 meters, they need to complete the 70 meters length because it’s done in one cooking.)
When asked why two roads have to be repaired at the same time, Torillo explained that they were done based on the recommendation of their central computer which relies on the data submitted by their planning section every year.
Torillo made the explanation following commuter complaints that the delay in road repairs in Malvar Street is already causing vehicular accidents.
“Ang DPWH meron kaming planning section na every year nag-co-conduct yan ng road condition survey, nag e-evaluate ng defects. May central computer na ini-encode lahat ng defects so ‘yong computer ang nagsasabi kung ano ang dapat na gawing project based sa recommendation ng system,” Torillo pointed out.
He added there is also a need to replace the paved shoulder of Malvar Street in order for it to become a four-lane highway.
It will also be thickened to 11 inches to accommodate heavy-duty vehicles.
The road repair is expected to be completed next month.
