DPWH chief conducts dialog with stakeholders to solve traffic

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had conducted a stakeholder dialog with public/private utilities due to the alarming reports of inconvenience to pedestrians and motorists brought by irresponsible road diggings along major thoroughfares in Metro Manila.

Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said that the coordination meeting aims to make a unified standard and procedures in excavation works for all public utilities working along national roads.

He said one of the major causes of traffic and road accidents in the metropolis are caused by irresponsible road excavations.

The DPWH, in coordination with the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and concerned stakeholders, has come up with a unified guidelines on excavation works for public utilities along national roads.

Among the participants of the meeting are the DPWH regional directors and district engineers from NCR and Region IV-A and representatives from the concerned stakeholders such as Maynilad, Manila Water, PLDT, Digitel, Meralco, Eastern Telecom and others.

“We want to make our roads safer and maintain to its top condition by strictly implementing existing laws, rules and regulations and formulating new policies,” Singson said.

In the proposed guidelines, the public utilities are required to conduct a massive information campaign prior to the implementation of road diggings and inform the motorists of possible alternate routes.

The secretary said all diggings or excavations up to restorations or reconstruction works are also required to be done in two shifts (day and night) in highly urbanized areas to assure early project completion, except for some identified traffic congested areas where construction works are only allowed during night time to avoid disruption of traffic.

He said road sections affected by excavation must be temporarily paved or patched with asphalt until it can be fully restored to its original condition and will commence immediately once the utilities are made operational, for example for waterpipes, after it passed hydro testing (pipe leakage test). Such work will be done by the utility contractor under close supervision of DPWH authorized representatives.

In the event of road expansion or improvement to be implemented in the national road with existing utility or structure affected, the utility facility or structure will be removed/relocated and the cost for its removal will be shouldered by the public/private utility owner.

All the inputs from the dialogue will be consolidated into the new DPWH policy on diggings/excavations by private and public utilities on national roads.

The DPWH also presented its 2011 road construction, improvement or rehabilitation program to the utility firms as their basis of their 2011 work program.” The utility firms shall do their projects parallel to the construction or rehabilitation works of the DPWH,” the secretary said. –Mina Diaz, Daily Tribune