GSIS insurance to cover permanent repair of SCTEX bridge

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – The Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) yesterday said the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) would cover the cost of the permanent repair of the damaged bridge along the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) in Porac town this province.

Opening the temporary 49-meter Bailey bridge built by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) at the site, BCDA president and chief executive officer Arnel Casanova said the SCTEX was “on full risk insurance with the GSIS.”

Casanova said the entire SCTEX has a P17-billion full insurance with the GSIS.

The southern abutment of the bridge eroded into the Pasig-Potrero River at the height of recent monsoon rains triggered by Tropical Storm Maring.

DWPH bridge engineer Jose Ong said the Bailey bridge was merely lent to the BCDA as a temporary measure to open the damaged span of the SCTEX across the Pasig-Potrero River.

“The bridge is kept by the DPWH in Subic precisely for emergencies. The same bridge was last used also to temporarily replace a damaged bridge in Sison, Ifugao,” Ong said.

Ong said DPWH personnel built the bridge in six days.

Casanova said the BCDA spent only about P15 million for the manpower and other costs of the Bailey bridge, except for the bridge itself which belongs to the DPWH.

He said the Bailey bridge was opened to light vehicles starting at 2 p.m. yesterday, and heavier vehicles would be allowed after seven days as soon as the concrete foundations get cured.

Casanova had no estimate on the cost of the bridge damage or how much the permanent repair would cost.

He said the original contractor of the bridge is still preparing the design for the permanent repair.

He also said the designers are considering lengthening the concrete bridge so as to move away its abutment from the river’s eroding southern bank.

“The bridge itself has remained solid and strong. It was merely the riverbank that eroded and caused the approach to the bridge to also erode into the river,” he said.

Casanova said the damaged portion was a “low traffic volume” section of SCTEX where about 6,000 vehicles traversed daily. “The higher volume route is between Clark and Tarlac,” he added.           – With Ric Sapnu