For road construction: Cebu City gets new equipment

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City government has acquired yesterday five brand new road construction equipment amounting to P35.05 million.

These equipment include two units of vibratory compactor, hydraulic excavator, long arm hydraulic excavator and wheel excavator.

The P35 million amount forms part of the P185-million budget approved by the City Council for the acquisition of heavy equipment of the city’s Department of Engineering and Public Works for this year.

Mayor Michael Rama led other city officials during the turnover of the equipment yesterday.

City Engineer Jose Marie Poblete said it is the first tranche of the P185-million worth of heavy equipment delivered to DEPW.

These brand new units, he said, would be of great addition to the city’s current 25 operational equipment.

“Naa’y daan nga equipment pero ang uban ani under repair maong maglisod ‘ta og respond sa ubang needs. We want to be effective sa atong pag-respond sa atong needs sa residente; we should have a full fleet of equipment,” he said.

He said the city has 42 existing equipment acquired in 1990 yet, 25 of which are still operational and 17 under repair.

“Naay 90’s naay sometime in 2012 pero naa sa bukid para quick ang response pud didto kay gi-consider pud nato ang travel time padung didto,” he added.

Poblete said the newly acquired equipment are useful especially in responding to the request of different barangays in the city for road asphalting and desilting of rivers or esteros, among others.

He said the city, on a daily basis, receives 20 to 30 requests from different barangays.

The DEPW head expressed his gratitude to the members of the council for approving the amount that they proposed for the acquisition of heavy equipment.

“The amount given for this year is the total amount being asked by the executive department. For that, I thank the City Council for understanding our needs,” Poblete said.

Another batch of heavy equipment amounting to over 70 million is set to be delivered next month, said Poblete. It includes two units of mini-backhoe, motor grader, two units of road roller, two units of pay loader, two units of combined backhoe-loader, and nine units of 10-wheeler dump truck.

Further, the city will be getting another set of equipment amounting to almost 70 million, which is still set for bidding and procurement.

This comprises two units of boom truck, combined vacuum dredging machine, equipment and accessories for dredging, and combined suction and backhoe dredger.

“Mag-anam-anam og dugang next year para ma-complete ang fleet of heavy equipment para makatabang ta’s atong residents labi na sa pagpanlimpyo sa kasapaan nga napuno og silt ug basura, asphalting of roads, ug bisan unsa,” said Poblete. — Jean Marvette A. Demecillo/NSA (FREEMAN)