Dagupan Dredging Operations Resume

After being stalled for more than three months, dredging of the the City of Dagupan shallow rivers is about to resume. This follows the fuel arrival for three dredging machines of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) located in the city.

The announcement was made by Mayor Belen Fernandez during her executive meeting with department heads on Monday that the fuel for the dredging machines has finally arrived and at last are finally resuming work. Fernandez heaved a sigh of relief as the dredging machines had been idling for months after just one month of operations in June.

Under a memorandum of agreement signed by the mayor and the DPWH, fuel supplies for the first month of the operations were to be managed by the city and the rest by DPWH. Records showed dredging of shallow rivers here stalled since July as the dredging machines run out of fuel.

Fernandez was informed that the fuel for these machines was still undergoing bidding in Manila and was puzzled why it was taking them too long to finish it. The mayor said that the city government was willing to extend some more fuel for the dredging machines as long as the DPWH can guarantee that the fuel allocation of these machines will be given just the same.

Dredging is still being concentrated in the downstream portion of the Calmay River where a big island of silt as big as a baseball field has formed and need to be removed before next year’s rainy season sets in.

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Source: PNA