MAASIN CITY -- The Department of Public Works and Highways Southern Leyte District Engineering Office (DPWH-SLDEO) has asked its engineers to aim for global competitiveness and observe responsible practices to deliver quality projects.
Recently, the district office required all its 41 engineers to attend the 8th technical conference of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (Pice) as part of the department’s upgrading initiative.
The field office has the most number of participants among the 13 district offices in Eastern Visayas during the Pice conference held on September 22 at the DPWH regional office conference hall.
“Topics were very helpful in our engineering practice especially now that we are pushing for global competitiveness and build more resilient structures. This will really add points to their continuing education,” said District Engineer Ma. Margarita C. Junia.
The gathering has tackled topics on Association of Southeast Asian Nation engineers register, foundation and design considerations for buildings in urban areas, soil stabilization and ground improvement, safety and risk management, project quality assurance, and storm surges and waves.
The discussion was very timely, according to Junia, especially that the office of Southern Leyte Representative Roger Mercado has been closely coordinating with DPWH to assess infrastructure needs of communities.
“With more competitive engineers that we have, we want to design projects in such a way it will be more sustainable and more beneficial to everyone,” Junia said.
Last year, SLDEO has hired additional 11 young engineers to carry out project quality assurance and monitoring, bringing the total to 41 engineers serving in the district.
The DPWH-SLDEO is tasked to maintain 299 kilometers of national roads and 155 bridges, built in 18 towns and one city.
For this year, the field office is implementing P1.3 billion worth of projects. These are 88 percent complete as of September. The proposed budget for 2017 has increased to P1.74 billion. (PNA)