DPWH to complete Manila Bay seawall repair soon

MANILA, Philippines - The repairs and landscaping of the Manila Bay seawall will be completed on April 27, in time for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) board of governors meeting, a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) official said yesterday.

DPWH-National Capital Region (NCR) regional director Reynaldo Tagudando said the Manila Bay seawall will be open to the public exactly seven months since it was badly damaged.

A 1.4-kilometer section of the seawall that stretches from the United States embassy up to the Manila Yacht Club was destroyed by strong winds and large waves at the height of typhoon “Pedring” on Sept. 27, 2011.

Tagudando said they are rushing the repairs and rehabilitation of the 1.4-kilometer section of the seawall in preparation for the 45th annual meeting of the ADB’s board of governors, which will be held from May 2 to 5.

He said they decided to move the deadline from July to April 27 because of the upcoming conference since the Department of Finance is worried that the seawall repair has not yet been completed.

He explained that the ADB meeting would be held at the Philippine International Convention Center and the delegates would be billeted in hotels that are close to the bay.

The DPWH official also said the bay is a known tourist attraction – tourists still flocked to the area to see the magnificent Manila Bay sunset even when contractor JD Legaspi Construction placed barriers while the seawall was being repaired.

Yesterday, they tore down the steel sheets earlier erected during the repair and the motorists passing through Roxas Boulevard had a better view of the sunset.

Tagudando said they are just completing the canal covers and will turn the project over to the Manila city government by Monday.

The city government has until April 27 to finish the landscaping and installing the lighting, and workers have begun placing the bricks on the pavement.

The DPWH spent P94 million on the project. The agency’s experts revised the design of the seawall and made additions to make it withstand strong waves that would crash into the structure during storms and typhoons.

They have added a wave deflector designed to help throw the waves back into the sea. Ed Ramos of the DPWH-NCR said “the purpose of the deflector is to dissipate the energy of the waves.”

Ramos said they have also installed geo-textile or filter cloth and concrete key to support and strengthen the seawall. They have also wrapped armor rocks with filter cloth to bind the fine sand or fine aggregates.

The boulder rocks were taken from Bataan, Cavite and Quezon.

They also raised the seawall structure by 20 centimeters from its previous height of 46 centimeters and increased its width from 80 centimeters to 120 centimeters.