SOIL testing in preparation for the construction of the Samal Island-Davao City (SIDC) connector project (Davao-Samal Bridge) is currently ongoing, according to the project engineer from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Engr. John Christian Gaden of the DPWH Bridges Management Cluster-Unified Project Management Office (BMC-UPMO) said on December 16 that they are still in the design period of the project before they proceed to the actual civil or construction works by next year.
The soil testing or borehole investigation being done determines if the soil at the identified site can bear the weight of the infrastructures that will be built and the bridge overall.
The design period is an important phase since the SIDC bridge as a whole is a design and build project in which a portion of the project duration will be focused on design aspects.
“We’ve already accounted 80.06 percent accomplishment for the design stage as of November 25, 2022 which we’ve already gathered positive 0.16 percent ahead of schedule,” Gaden said during a media forum.
The borehole investigation is still on the Davao City side. A total of 42 out of 63 boreholes in Davao City are accomplished and 13 out of 18 offshore.
Gaden said they have not yet started the borehole investigation on the Island Garden City of Samal (IGACOS) end.
“For Samal side, we were not able to conduct any borehole as this portion of the project will be subjected to expropriation case,” he said, referring to the ongoing investigation regarding the SIDC bridge after a number of environmental advocates appealed for realignment.
Meanwhile, Gaden said they have already submitted a memorandum addressed to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the review of the draft of the memorandum of agreement to create a multi-partite monitoring team.
“It’s an external body which will monitor the compliance of the contractor and the DPWH as the proponent of this project with regard to the conditions stipulated under the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC),” he said.
While the multi-partite monitoring team has not yet been established, the SIDC project is still being monitored by the Infrastructure Monitoring and Advisory Group of Davao City.
“We do monthly reporting of our accomplishments to them,” Gaden said. ICM