TUBA, Benguet – Mayor Igancio Rivera reiterated the long standing request for the Department of Public Works and Highways – First Benguet Engineering District (DPWh-FBED0 to prioritize the programming of projects to cover the open canals along major road networks in the locality to prevent future loss of innocent lives.
Rivera issue the reiteration of the town’s overdue request to the agency after two individuals died when they accidentally fell on the open canals along Marcos highway and were carried by the strong water current up to the Badioan river during the continuous monsoon rains.
“We had been requesting the concerned agencies to prioritize the implementation of priority projects to cover the open canals along our major road networks to prevent the occurrence of untoward incidents that lead to the loss of lives such as what happened just last week where two innocent individuals died when they accidentally fell on the open canal at the height of the strong monsoon rains that prevailed over our region for several days,” Mayor Rivera stressed.
The local chief executive recommended to the DPWH the putting in place of concrete covers over the open canals so that it will serve as a permanent cover instead of the placement of steel cover which is still considered as dangerous because people might encounter accidents while passing over the steel covers that will be placed as temporary covers.
According to him, the local government cannot afford to have more lives lost in the future because of the unattended open canals along major road networks in the different parts of the town that is why it is best for the DPWH to prioritize the implementation of projects to cover the said canals for overall safety purposes.
It can be recalled that there was a previous plan to install steel cover on the open canals along Marcos highway but the residents in the area expressed their opposition to the said plan because it would reportedly result to the occurrence of accidents unlinked when a concrete cover will be put in place which guarantees better safety for those passing through the covered canals.
Rivera claimed with the occurrence of the two unfortunate incidents that resulted to the loss of lives of a 19-year old lady from Samar and a driver from the town, the DOPWH will be compelled to institute the appropriate remedial measures to cover the open canals to prevent any untoward incidents that will cause the loss of lives.
He added that the local government had been requesting the DPWH to provide the concrete cover for the open canals several years back as safety measure along major roads in the locality considering that national roads are within the jurisdiction of the agency but no concrete action has been done about the said requests until the occurrence of the recent incidents where there were innocent lives that were lost because of the presence of the open canals along various roads
Rivera remains optimistic that the DPWH will include the put p of concrete cover of open canals as part of their priority projects to be implemented in the different parts of the locality in their lineup of priority projects in the coming year for safety purposes.
By HENT
