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Capitol is planning
to buy P177 million heavy equipment to preserve and reshape hundreds of kilometers
of provincial roads from worsening condition.
Some
760 kilometers of total Bohol provincial road length of 918.390 kilometers badly
need considerable extent of resurfacing and re-graveling.
Engr.
Edwin Vallejos, officer-in-charge of the Provincial Engineering Office said except
for few road machines bought few years back, all other PEO heavy equipment have
long exceeded their age of usefulness.
PEO
has only one bulldozer and one backhoe left operational.
The
other road machines in its limited equipment fleet include only 14 dump trucks,
which are all old, six road graders, six road rollers and two pay-loaders.
Vallejos
did not yet specify what and how many equipment the provincial government will
purchase.
PEO also maintains a total of 1.8 kilometers of provincial bridges.
| | | The
provincial government can maintain only 160 kilometers of provincial roads each
year based on PEO's equipment capacity, resulting in a "big shortfall"
of the target.
In
some cases, maintenance of provincial roads is undertaken by the barangays concerned
using provincial fund, but the system has reportedly been noted ineffective.
Gov.
Erico Aumentado said in his weekly radio program Governor's Report on Friday that
maintenance works can be undertaken by private contractors while capitol has yet
to acquire new equipment. | There
is also an intolerable shortage of road maintenance manpower.
Capitol
can pay only 99 contractual or casual road maintenance men daily based on the
budget allocated for the PEO this year in addition to only 11 regular kamanero.
The
figure is more than half short of the needed 320 kamanero, Vallejos said, adding
that one kamanero has to maintain three kilometers of road a year.
PEO's
allocation this year for maintenance is only P23 million, from which are also
sourced the expenses for fuel, materials to maintain provincial bridges, which
are mostly timber bridges, and paints for bailey panels.
The
problem of equipment incapability to improve the provincial roads is complicated
by the abnormality of summer that has gone wet.
"Rain
is gravel road's number one enemy," Vallejos said.
The
same allocation is thinned further by the wages of casual kamanero.
Vallejos
said national roads are better maintained considering their shorter total length
and bigger allocation.
Bohol
has 660 kilometers of national roads as against the almost 920 kilometers of provincial
roads.
The
national roads are maintained not by a single agency as in the case of the provincial
roads by PEO.
There
are three district offices of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)
which maintain the national roads within their respective areas.
Vallejos
said capitol is poised to acquire new road machines also precisely because all
other modes of progress should be complemented with good accessibility infrastructure.
(Ven rebo Arigo) | 
