CEBU City Hall has acquired a set of brand new heavy equipment amounting to P35 million.
The equipment were blessed yesterday afternoon at Magellan’s Park. These included two vibratory compactors (P4.8 million each), a hydraulic excavator (P9 million), a long arm excavator (P8.95 million) and a wheel excavator (P7.5 million).
City Engineer Jose Marie Poblete said these comprise the first batch of heavy equipment that the city is expecting from the P185-million budget for heavy equipment outlay under the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) maintenance of drainage system under the approved annual budget for this year.
“As per record, the estimated number of request from barangays for equipment assistance for road maintenance and drainage system in a month is around 30-40. So these equipment will be of big help in responding to their requests,” he told reporters yesterday.
He said the long arm excavator will be helpful in desilting and dredging of rivers and waterways.
The others can be used for road repairs as well as clearing and re-blocking operations in fire sites.
Poblete said another set of brand new heavy equipment amounting to almost P80 million are set for delivery from the winning suppliers in the coming weeks.
These include nine units of 10-wheeler dump trucks (P4.4 million each), two mini backhoe (P2.5 million each), two road roller (P2 million each), two pay loaders(P7.6 million each),two combined backhoe-loader (P4.5 million each), and a motor grader (P6.8 million).
Poblete pointed out that out of the 47 heavy equipment under the DEPW, only 25 are operational while the remaining 17 are under repair.
Some of the equipment were purchased in the 90s yet while some newer ones were acquired in 2012, but these are stationed in the satellite City Hall in barangay Taptap in order to respond to landslides and other concerns in the mountain barangays.
Poblete thanked the city council for granting their complete proposal for the heVy equipment outlay under the approved P13.4 billion annual budget this year.
Meanwhile, the remaining set of equipment under the approved budget are either still for procurement or for bidding.
“If the engineering department has served well for the previous years, we are proud to announce that with these acquired equipment, we can serve better aiming for best,” Poblete said.
For his part, Mayor Michael Rama, who also tested the equipment during yesterday’s blessing, said it just shows that the city government is doing its job.
“What we all have envisioned are coming one by one to fruition. Many think we can’t deliver the goods. But we won’t stop since there are billions worth of projects coming,” he said.
“We don’t just talk. We walk the talk. My satisfaction in public service is when I see what we all agreed being implemented,” he added.
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