The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported that the Samal Island-Davao City Connector (SIDC) Project is currently four percent complete, with a target completion date of September 2028.
Engr. Rodrigo Delos Reyes, project director for DPWH, said during the Kapehan sa Dabaw on June 10, 2024, at SM City Davao, that delays have occurred due to prioritizing the bridge design. The design is 94 percent complete and should be finished by July 2024.
“Sa ngayon po ay nag-adjust kami ng konti kasi nagkaroon kami ng delay sa ating implementation ng ating design due to right of way issues at any rate we are confident na matatapos tayo by September 2028 (Currently, we have made some adjustments due to a delay in implementation caused by design and right-of-way issues. Still, we are confident that it will be completed by September 2028),” he said.
Despite the delay, the project budget remains unchanged at P23 billion, funded by China. Delos Reyes expressed confidence in meeting the 2028 deadline.
RoW issues
Delos Reyes noted that only 10 affected lots remain in the Island Garden City of Samal (IGACOS), and the DPWH has already obtained court possession rights for these and four lots in Davao City.
Negotiations and payments for the remaining lots are ongoing.
He highlighted that construction delays were partly due to right-of-way (RROW) issues, as they waited for court decisions to conduct soil exploration in certain areas.
Tree-cutting
On May 12, 2024, the environmental group Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (Idis) expressed dismay over the cutting down of 200 trees in Davao for the project.
Delos Reyes clarified that 294 trees in Davao City and 192 in Igacos were affected.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) requires replanting 100 trees for each cut. Tree-planting activities were conducted in May and October 2023, resulting in 29,400 trees planted in Davao and 1,200 in Samal.
He added that they obtained all necessary permits before cutting the trees and confirmed no heritage trees were affected.
The Multipartite Monitoring Team (MMT), an interagency group including the City Government of Davao, monitors the project to prevent such issues.
“Ang MMT po nakabantay satin ito po ay inter agency kasama natin ang City Government of Davao, siguro sasabihin nila sa amin na kung magpuputol man kami wag yang isang yan, di pwede yan, or kung yan man eh iba ang kapalit niyan something like pero wala naman sinasabi sa amin ang grupo ng monitoring team (The MMT is overseeing our activities; it's an interagency team that includes the City Government of Davao. They might advise us not to cut certain trees, indicating that they are off-limits or that cutting them could have consequences. However, the monitoring group did not communicate anything to us),” he continued.
The MMT, formed on April 20, 2023, includes the City Government of Davao, DENR, barangays from both cities, the military, and the Samal Island Beach Resort Association.
On the same day, the Sustainable Davao Movement (SDM) raised concerns about the absence of environmental groups in the MMT. They also questioned why the MMT failed to present their findings to the session of the 20th Council of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Davao on April 2, 2024.
Impact
The DPWH stated that the ongoing construction of the SIDC project has not yet impacted the corals.
If any corals are destroyed, they plan to replace them. Delos Reyes emphasized that they will install a dust curtain and place artificial coral reefs when construction begins at sea.
“Actually, wala pa tayo sa ganoong situation na meron tayong naapektuhang corals at any rate kung meron man bibigyan natin siya ng replacement (Actually, we have not reached that situation, and if any corals are affected, we will provide a replacement),” he said.
However, the Sustainable Davao Movement (SDM) contested these claims. They cited four major pre-construction activities by the DPWH: soil sample drilling in October 2022, construction of a pier at the former Blue Jazz property in 2023, soil sample drilling in January to February 2024 at the Lucas property, and ongoing pier construction at the alignment area on the Samal side in front of the Lucas property.
“We invite the DPWH team (national and local) as well as the MMT to do a monitoring dive with us and our marine experts to have an honest and serious discussion on what the plans for the corals. The coral graveyard now at the side of Samal is easily one hectare,” SDM said in their statement.
SDM further expressed that using silt curtains has been ineffective.
In December 2022, drilling for the SIDC project caused turbidity, siltation, and sedimentation at Paradise Reef, extending to Costa Marina.
The environmental group highlighted that this damage affected corals, particularly centennial table corals, which cannot be replaced with artificial reefs. They explained that coral restoration is a complex process and that this damage would affect the livelihoods of local fisherfolk.
Realignment
Several environmental groups have been advocating for the realignment of the SIDC project, arguing that a shorter bridge would be more cost-effective and environmentally friendly, especially regarding the preservation of trees and coral.
However, Delos Reyes emphasized that with ongoing construction, the chances of realignment are "slim." He explained that the alignment of the bridge was chosen from several options, selecting the one with the least environmental impact, affordability, and ease of construction.
He noted that realigning the bridge would incur substantial costs since the foundation has already been constructed.
Meanwhile, SDM stressed that progress should not come at the expense of corals and trees, particularly as World Environment Day was recently commemorated.
"It seems easy to balk at project costs (or the cost of realignment, even when an original option was cheaper at P16 billion) without measuring the environmental costs of the destruction of what is deemed a project that will have economic gains,” the group said. RGP