IDLE | The 453.7-meter Ungka Flyover straddling Iloilo City and Pavia town has not been opened to motorists pending repairs and a government investigation. (Photo from the DPWH Western Visayas)
ILOILO CITY—The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has sent a third-party geotechnical team to Pavia town in Iloilo province to find out what caused the “vertical displacement” of a newly built, multimillion-peso, four-lane flyover in the municipality.
Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, in an interview with dySI Super Radyo Iloilo on Tuesday, said they would want to know what engineering interventions could be introduced to stabilize the Ungka flyover.
Bonoan did not identify the third party but he stressed that the DPWH would want “to make the structure stable and usable in the shortest possible time.”
Geotechnical investigations are done to obtain information on the physical properties of soil earthworks and foundations for structures.
Bonoan said the DPWH also sent an audit team to Pavia town to conduct an assessment of the flyover to find out if there was any negligence on the part of the project contractor.
The flyover was opened only for 12 days last September before it was closed to traffic after it was found to be sinking for still unknown reason.
Rep. Michael Gorriceta of Iloilo’s second district, who met with Bonoan in Metro Manila last Monday, said the DPWH secretary did not want to sacrifice the safety of those passing by the Ungka flyover, which was built by the DPWH for P680 million to ease travel time between Iloilo City and Iloilo International Airport in Cabatuan town.
“What I heard [from Bonoan] was that he will seek to have it (flyover) opened by the third week of January,” he said.
Permanent solution
The lawmaker said the DPWH was not keen on making any statement in relation to the flyover despite multiple calls from officials in the city and province of Iloilo.
“After the arrival and inspection of the technical personnel, they will make a report [directly to Bonoan] and that would be the time that [the DPWH] will make an official statement and report in relation to the Ungka flyover,” Gorriceta said.
He also clarified that the actions of Bonoan were separate from the engineering interventions already announced by the DPWH regional office in Western Visayas, including jet grouting and shoring.
“There have been remedial and temporary measures [by the DPWH Western Visayas], but what Secretary Bonoan has been going after are permanent solutions, that is why they cannot make it in time this December,” the congressman said.
Gorriceta said the time frame would ultimately depend on the reports made directly to Bonoan by their contracted teams.
He, however, hoped that the DPWH would push to finish the flyover in the third week of January 2023.
No explanation
Local leaders in Iloilo have raised concerns over the continued closure of Ungka flyover and the absence of explanation from local DPWH officials over its closure barely two weeks after it was fully opened to the public last September.
The 453.7-meter Ungka flyover, which straddles Iloilo City and the town of Pavia, was partially opened to the public on June 30 this year.
Three months later, on Sept. 6, the structure was fully opened to commuters. But on Sept. 18, the DPWH closed the flyover after motorists complained about the “wavy feel” while driving over it, and amid reports and images of pools of water at the top of the flyover during rainy days.
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas earlier said he sent a letter to Bonoan to ask what was delaying the repair of the flyover which was constructed in January 2020.