Metal bracing for overhead wires — Veco

The Visayan Electric Co. plans to install steel braces to carry overheads wires in Cebu City’s central business district such as this area along F. Ramos St. and Arlington Pond St. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

THE Visayan Electric Company (Veco) will be installing metal bracing or brackets to carry bundles of overhead wires in selected areas in the Cebu business district.

The steel bracing  will require less poles on the streets to support the overhead wires, said Adrian Fabian, Veco streetlight and pole utilities department head yesterday.

“What Veco is doing now is we’re fabricating brackets or crossarms where they can hang the wires. Our first area is within the business district. We’ve identified 25 areas where we’ll put these soon,” Fabian said yesterday.

While they’re preparing these, he said other telecommunications and utilities companies are still busy bundling the dangling wires all over the city – a promise they gave to Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama after a series of accidents involving dangling wires.

If their brackets can hold the wires, this will mean that the telcos might just be able to fulfill the mayor’s “one-pole” policy for utilities, Fabian said.

Fabian was referring to the telcos and utility companies’ promise to remove all dangling wires in the city by May 1, which was an extension of the October deadline set by Mayor Micheal Rama.

Right now, he said they’re still testing the brackets’ capacity to carry the bundles of wires.

Veco has also formed a crew to survey poles within the business district to check if these are rotten or leaning.

Fabian said they will then notify the concerned company about the issue. If they don’t respond within seven days, Veco will  remove them.

Fabian said they’re optimistic that they can meet the target if they just focus on the business district./Reporter Jose Santino S. Bunachita