Bridge work might affect Cebu-Mactan power line

The Bridge Management Board led by its chairman, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and co-chairperson Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza (right and second from right, respectively) meets to discuss the Mactan-Mandaue Bridge rehabilitation at the Capitol. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Aside from a water transmission line, a 69-kilovolt (KV) power line is also at risk of being damaged once major repair works resume on the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge.

Roger Lim, CEO and president of East Asia Utilities Corp., voiced his concern regarding bridge repairs and the capability of workers to handle cables running underneath the structure, including those owned by his company.

“I am warning you. If you don’t know how to handle that, we will de-energize that line. We don’t want to be responsible for harm on workers there,” Lim said during the Mactan-Cebu Bridge Management Board  meeting at the Capitol yesterday.

“If (the power line) gets damaged because of (the bridge) work, I’m not paying for that,” said Lim.

Should the repairs jeopardize the line, Lim said it will also reduce reliability of power in parts of Mactan Island and even Cebu City.

The EAUC power plant inside the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) 1 has a capacity of 44 megawatts (MW) and supplies power to distribution companies in Cebu City.

Jill H. Verallo, Visayan Electric Co. reputation enhancement department head, assured there will be minimal effect on Veco because EAUC is not among their suppliers this year.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) also owns a 69-kV power line underneath the structure, but spokesperson Betty Martinez said this has long been de-energized.

“If ever the line gets cut during repair works on the bridge, there will be no problem with electrocution of workers or power trips,” she told Cebu Daily News.

Majority of Mactan Island’s power is supplied by the Cebu Electric Cooperative (Cebeco).

Unlike the 400-mm water transmission lines owned by the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD), EAUC’s power lines don’t need rehabilitation nor repair.

Major repair works on the bridge, including the removal of its dilapidated deck slab or flooring, were stopped last Feb. 9 to allow MCWD to rehabilitate the corroded pipe support for its water line.

Officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH 7)  feared that once they start to demolish the slabs, the water transmission line will be damaged due to lack of support.

The DPWH 7 officials said there are other utility lines running underneath the bridge, but they still have to check who owns them.

Engineer Nonato Paylado, chief of the DPWH 7 planning division, said they will closely coordinate with Lim on the matter.

“We don’t want their line to be damaged, but at the same time, we don’t want that to impede our repair works,” he said.

Lim and Paylado met separately after the meeting yesterday. Paylado did not say when their next meeting would be.

Porferio “Dodon” Monsteclaros, a director of the Mactan Export Processing Zone Chamber of Exporters and Manufacturers (MEPZCEM), also urged DPWH 7 and the contractor to work on the bridge 24/7.

Montesclaros said that MEPZCEM expects DPWH 7 to work with the contractor non-stop.

“If you stop, the whole industry will stop. Don’t be responsible for our problems. You have to work as much as us,” he said.

Paylado, meanwhile, said that this suggestion still has to be coordinated with the local government units.

He said working 24/7, which will reduce the project duration from 320 days with one shift to 168 days with three shifts, is possible. Whether or not this will push through, Paylado said they will find out next week.

“As of now, we are still trying to calculate adjustments with regard to the strength of concrete to be used. A faster curing period uses more expensive concrete,” he said.