River reclamation woes to be taken up in conference with contractor
A crane works on the reclaimed area below the old
Carpenters Bridge connecting Molo and Mandurriao
districts. A. Chris Fernandez
The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will have a technical conference today with the engineers of the China-International Water and Electrical Corporation (CIWEC) over the reclamation of a large portion of the river at the Carpenters Bridge in Tabucan, Mandurriao district.
The technical conference called by EMB-DENR Regional Director Bienvinido Lapayon will deal on whether there is a need to require the contractor to implement additional mitigating measures to address possible impacts of the reclamation to the environment.
The contractor reclaimed part of the river purposely to serve as "crane way " for their equipment when they start the construction of the new Carpenters Bridge. The crane will be positioned at the reclaimed part of the river for pile driving. It was not known who will represent CIWEC in the conference.
The reclamation of the river caught the ire of the fishpond owners because the reclamation constricted the river flow, thus affecting the volume of water that runs at the Iloilo River. The quantity of water that passes the river channel lessens because of the reclamation.
CIWEC is the contractor of the P230 million Iloilo Flood Control Project. The project package includes the construction of a new bridge between the district of Molo and Mandurriao which will replace the old Carpenter's Bridge.
The construction of the new bridge is under Phase II, Contract Package No. 2 of the Stage 1 of the Iloilo Flood Control Project. The construction started last March 1, 2006. The target date for the completion of project is February 12, 2009.