P5 A Cubic Meter Sand & Gravel

by ODON S. BANDIOLA

The decision of the provincial government of Aklan to engage the STL Panay Resources LTD, to dredge the Aklan River downstream the Kalibo-Numancia bridge to its mouth at north towards the Sibuyan Sea, highlights a very big question to the minds of our people.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE P100 MILLION DREDGING PROJECT OF THE DPWH IMPLEMENTED BY ITS REGIONAL OFFICE IN ILOILO CITY IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE 2008 TYPHOON FRANK IN THE SAME AREA OF THE RIVER?

The implementation of the DPWH dredging project was considerably delayed even after Typhoon Frank and therefore the whole appropriations for the said project was spent and the dredging deemed completed in 2011.

This proposed dredging project of the Aklan provincial government with a private firm will only indicate less or nothing had happened to mitigate the flooding of Kalibo and  Numancia and other towns along the Aklan River. Abnormal and heavy rainfall brought by Tropical Depression Quinta proved the P100 million dredging project at the Aklan River in the aftermath of Typhoon Frank was worthless after two or more years.

The draft agreement between the STL Panay Resources LTD and the provincial government for the dredging project shall entail no cost on the part of the LGU Aklan. The provincial government shall be compensated at P5 per cubic meter of dredged (sand and gravel) materials commercialized by the STL Panay Resources.

Some critics said the arrangement is a sell-out at P5 per cubic meter. STL Panay Resources is expected to dredge about 15 million cubic meters, or, P75 million income for Aklan province without any investment but allows excavation, hauling and marketing.

Of course, the implementers of a dredging project will always conveniently reason out that siltation and sandbar formations will always return to the dredged area after completion of the dredging due to natural phenomenon in a river system.

Dredging projects can always become a lucrative business for dredging contractors with less accurate monitoring and accounting of funds disbursed by government agency-implementor.

No one can also be held accountable for siltations and sand bar formation to develop in the dredged area even in the immediate aftermath of a dredging project completion. /MP