Infrastructure damage estimated at P883M; assessment ongoing

Residents repair their damaged homes after Typhoon Bopha made landfall in Compostela Valley in southeastern Philippines Tuesday Dec. 4, 2012. Typhoon Bopha (local name Pablo), one of the strongest typhoons to hit the Philippines this year, barreled across the country’s south on Tuesday, killing at least 40 people and forcing more than 50,000 to flee from inundated villages. AP /Karlos Manlupig

MANILA, Philippines – The damage wrought by Typhoon Pablo on public infrastructure in four regions of Mindanao has been initially estimated at P883 million, the Department of Public Works and Highways said Friday.

According to Public Works Undersecretary for Regional Operations Romeo Momo, the department was still assessing the condition of the roads and bridges in the provinces affected by the typhoon.

But so far, out of the estimated P883.15 million in damage so far assessed, Momo said, the Davao region (Region 11) accounted for the heaviest at P530.6 million.

The Caraga region (Region 13) recorded P228 million in infrastructure damage, Northern Mindanao (Region 10) P98 million, and Central Visayas (Region 7) P26.55 million.

“This is one of the worst devastating effects of a typhoon that I have seen in the more than 30 years of my stay at the DPWH. It’s really depressing to see the destruction,” he said.

One of the facilities badly damaged was the Governor Teodoro Palma Gil Bridge in the municipality of Caraga in Davao Oriental, he said.

Momo said it may take a long time before they were able to repair the damage to the bridge. But he said the DPWH intends to construct in a month’s time a bailey bridge that would reconnect the two ends of Governor Teodoro Palma Gil Bridge to give residents in the area better access.

Momo added that the national roads leading to the three municipalities in Davao Oriental that were hardest hit — Baganga, Cateel and Boston— have been made passable to motorists already.

“While there are still posts and coconut trees that obstruct the roads, our men in the field have managed to remove some of them. In some areas, only one lane is passable because we could not immediately remove the thousands of coconut trees that have fallen. There are too many of them. We just want to make sure that vehicles could pass through especially those that carry relief goods to the municipalities of Boston, Cateel and Baganga,” he said.

He added that clearing operations on roads leading to Compostela Valley was still ongoing but expected the road obstructions to be removed this weekend.