Capitol to Start Rehab of Damaged Provincial Roads

The Cebu Provincial Government will start rehabilitating provincial roads in the municipalities of Alcantara and Barili. Heavy equipment and eight culverts were already sent to Alcantara last January 6.

Earlier, Governor Hilario P. Davide III ordered Provincial Engineer Hector Jamora to speed up the repair of all province-owned roads and other infrastructures damaged after Typhoon Seniang.

The speedy repair of these infrastructures face a challenge in view of the limited heavy equipment the province owns.

Davide intends to purchase heavy equipment as soon as possible. The previous administration sold the province-owned heavy equipment.

The Alcantara Candabong-Manga provincial road was disconnected when the box culverts of the road in Barangay Candabong were washed away by Typhoon Seniang’s heavy rains last week.

A landslide in Barangay Cabadiangan, which isolated Barangay Manga, was already cleared by the local government.

Alcantara Mayor Beatriz Caburnay said all roads in the town are now passable except for the damage of a portion along the provincial road in Barangay Candabong.

In Barili, a grader was sent to commence a new road opening to reconnect the Bolocboloc-Nasipit provincial road. Barili Mayor Teresito Mariñas said they have to create a new road since a particular portion of the road in Barangay Nasipit collapsed two meters down.

“This lot is unstable so we have to condemn it and look for another road,” he said.

Mariñas believed the continuous and heavy rains of Seniang aggravated this critical portion of the road. The construction of the new road will not take time as it will pass a portion of an already established old Spanish road.

Provincial Engineer Hector Jamora, who inspected the road with the mayor, said a bulldozer will be sent in Barangay Nasipit once it is no longer needed in Alcantara.

The classes in the schools located near the overflowed rivers in Alcantara and Barili were still suspended. Mayor Caburnay said they are asking the province if they could send a loader to clear the thick mud in the elementary school in Barangay Polo in Alcantara. (Xerxes Alkuino)

www.cebu.gov.ph