Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar announced that the ongoing works for the Panguil Bay Bridge Project stays on track within the target completion of December 2023.
Villar said that progress of works for the Northern Mindanao’s mega inter-island connection is now at 22 percent as major equipment intensifies preparation of the bridge foundation.
“Northern Mindanao’s mega inter-island connection is now at 22 percent.”
In an inspection report to the public works chief, Undersecretary for Unified Project Management Office (UPMO) Operations Emil Sadain said that 15 bored piles out of 54 for Panguil Bay Bridge substructure were completed to date at a depth ranging 30 to 50 meters.
Sadain together with Project Director Sharif Madsmo Hasim of UPMO Roads Management Cluster 2 conducted work performance assessment of the off-shore construction activities by Korean joint venture contractor Namkwang-Kukdong-Gumwang.
Based on the extensive detailed engineering design, the 3.169-kilometer Panguil Bay Bridge will require 54 bored piles intended for the 32 piers, two for abutments at Tangub City, Misamis Occidental and Tubod, Lanao Del Norte side, and two for pylon of the main bridge.
Bored piles 3-meter diameter are completed using reverse circulation drilling machines on barges to prepare the bore holes followed by the launching of 23-millimeter thick permanent steel casing using revolving crane barges and vibro pile hammers, and until final pouring with two land and sea-based batching plants each capable of supplying 120 cubic meter of ready-mixed concrete per hour.
With an average of six to seven holes prepared per month, 74 percent or 40 of the 54 bored holes are targeted for completion towards the end of December 2021 with the remaining 26 percent or 14 bored holes to be finished by February 2022.
“In order to ensure quality of works, the completed bored piles are subjected to checking using cross hole sonic logging test after 7 to 14 days of concrete placement in order to assess the integrity of concrete in the cast-in-site pile and will also undergo pile loading test to determine the safety factor,” Sadain reported.
The Panguil Bay Bridge is considered as the biggest and boldest infrastructure project in Northern Mindanao.
Considered as the biggest and boldest infrastructure project in Northern Mindanao, the P7.375 Billion project to connect Tangub City and Tubod across Panguil Bay in just seven (7) minutes is funded by a loan agreement between Government of the Philippines (GOP) and Korean Export-Import Bank (Korea Eximbank).
