DPWH Directors Jose C. Ong and Antonio Molano, Jr., BCDA President Arnel D. Casanova, and SCTEx Services Dept. Project Manager Joshua M. Bingcang preside over the opening of the Bailey Bridge at the Clark-Porac section of SCTEx. Heavy equipment for the bridge’s repair on stand by.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF PETER C. ALAGOS
CLARK FREEPORT – The Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) said yesterday 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, Pampanga.
Opening the temporary 49-meter Bailey bridge built by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) at the damaged portion, BCDA President- CEO Arnel Casanova said the SCTEx is “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 was eroded into the Pasig- Potrero River at the height of the recent monsoon rains triggered by tropical depression 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-Potero 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 noted that DPWH personnel built the bridge in a span of six days. Casanova said that the BCDA spent only about P15 million for the manpower and other cost of the Bailey bridge, except for the bridge itself which belonged to the DPWH. He said the Bailey bridge was opened to light vehicles starting 2 p.m. yesterday and would allow heavier vehicles after seven days as soon as the concrete foundations get cured.
Casanova had no estimate on the cost of bridge damage nor estimates on how much its permanent repair would cost. He said that the design for the permanent repair was still being prepared by the original contractor of the bridge eight years ago.
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 stressed.
Casanova also said that the damaged portion was a “low traffi c volume” section of SCTEx where about 6,000 vehicles traverse daily. “The higher volume route is between Clark and Tarlac,” he added.
