THE Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) submitted a second proposal to Jegma Construction, hoping it will finally accept the job to strengthen its 400-meter water transmission line, which will be affected by the on-going rehabilitation of the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge.
Lawyer Jorge Cabriente, MCWD OIC-Assistant General Manager for technical services, said that the MCWD will meet DPWH and Jegma Construction at 2 p.m. today to discuss the second proposal.
The first proposal, which suggested the use of stainless steel to strengthen the support of the pipeline, was rejected by both Jegma and DPWH. Jegma said they have no expertise to do it.
Support
Earlier, in a press conference, DPWH 7 Director Ador Canlas said the MCWD must strengthen its support. Otherwise, the pipeline will be in danger of collapsing once the deck slabs of the bridge will be demolished.
The water transmission line hangs under the sidewalk of the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge.
Gabriente said they don’t want it to happen because MCWD is supplying around 12,000 cubic meters to Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova town with around 17,000 water connections, domestic and commercial.
He said this is the reason they submitted a second proposal that, instead of using stainless steel, they will use steel dipped in hot galvanized iron.
Gabriente admitted that as early as October 2015, the DPWH has informed MCWD about the repair of the bridge. That’s why they negotiated with Jegma Construction, the contractor of the bridge project, to do the reinforcement job.
No expertise
Jegma informed MCWD last Feb. 9, on the second day of the resumption of the bridge repair, that they (Jegma) have no expertise to do the re-enforcement of the water transmission line.
Gabriente said that MCWD continued to negotiate with Jegma and the last talk was last Feb. 12 where Jegma asked for a specific plan for the second proposal.
“Although they did not commit (to accept our proposal), they asked for time to evaluate it using steel dipped in hot galvanized iron,” Gabriente said.
He said Jegma and DPWH will finally accept the second proposal so the supply of water to Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova will continue.