BARAS, Palo, Leyte -- Fourteen brand new heavy equipment worth P99.5 million have been procured by the Department of Public Works and Highways - Regional Office 8 (DPWH-8) for the usage of 10 district engineering offices in the region.
Equipment Management Division (EMD) Chief Alex S. Dagalea stated on his report to Regional Director Allan S. Borromeo that 14 units of equipment have been acquired by the office through regular bidding.
“These will be deployed to various DEOs that critically need equipment especially during disasters,” Engr. Dagalea said.
Among the newly-procured equipment are four (4) units of hydraulic excavators (backhoe), seven (7) units of backhoe/loader, one (1) unit of road grader, a payloader and a drop side truck with 3T crane capacity.
Borromeo said that he observed that with the two recent typhoons that hit the country citing “Agaton” and “Odette,” Eastern Visayas has suffered immense damage, mostly areas within the jurisdiction of DEOs.
“Undeniably, so much has changed on how typhoons and other natural disasters affect our region. The procurement of these equipment will be helpful for DEOs to respond easier and faster during calamities,” Borromeo explained.
Out of these 14 equipment, four (4) hydraulic excavators have recently been delivered to DPWH 8-EMD office, and seven (7) backhoe/loader will be delivered in June. The rest of the equipment are expected to arrive within the next three months.
Meanwhile, brand new dredging equipment worth P70 million have also been acquired which will be up for use in the Regional Office. These include a swampy tractor, crawler mounted (bulldozer swampy type) and a multi-purpose amphibious dredge. Said equipment are expected to be delivered also in June.
In 2020, equipment worth P134 million in total have also been purchased by the office which are intended for road construction and waste management. These include a rough terrain crane, a self-loading truck with boom, two units of hydraulic excavator, two units of loader excavator, a payloader and one amphibious excavator.
For CY 2019, DPWH 8 was also able to purchase P126 million worth of water-based and dredging support equipment such as amphibious excavators, one payloader, hydraulic excavators, vacuum sewer jet machine trailer, aerial manlift platform truck, among others. (CPDM/DPWH-8)
