Challenging physics

SAN FRANCISCO — The collapse of concrete beams at a flyover construction site in Imus, Cavite illustrates a problem that plagues the country. DPWH officials said it was human error that caused the accident and reassured that fixing it would not cost the taxpayers anything extra.

Human error doesn’t seem to capture what really happened. Someone tried to challenge the laws of physics and failed. As a layman, I would assume the construction company has competent civil engineers to do some calculations and based on it, deploy the right equipment for the job.

From what I gathered from experts in construction, they used a crane that didn’t have the capacity to lift such a load, or had little margin for error. I am told “they should have used 2 x 80 MT cranes in lifting the girders instead of 2 x 60 MT cranes.

Most likely, the two cranes were not synchronized when positioning the sixth girder which in turn hit the fifth and other newly installed girders, creating a domino effect hitting each other.”

But why would a responsible civil engineer take such a risk? In typical Pinoy fashion, they must have thought puede na yan. But the law of physics cannot be violated the way the Supreme Court violated the Constitution in the Sereno case. Luckily no one got hurt… in Cavite.

Surely, however, the financial books of the construction company got hurt, even with insurance. Not only must they clear out the mess, they have to go and fabricate the girders again and that’s lost time.

And if it is a proper contract, the construction company should also be liable for eventual late delivery. This is not an accident that can be blamed on circumstances beyond their control. Force majeure assumes unavoidable circumstances. This is a man made accident that was avoidable and liability can be pinpointed to the construction company.

Also hurt by the accident are the residents and motorists who will be inconvenienced by delayed delivery of the project. Traffic is bad enough in that important intersection during the construction period that will now have to be extended.

DPWH is known to turn a blind eye to accidents of their favored contractors. Contractors often feel they have to take risks and break rules because they are under pressure to “reward” district engineers and other bureaucrats.

This accident reminds us that DPWH must make sure contractors have competent engineers on the ground, do not cut corners, or use substandard materials to the point of endangering public safety. That was the timely reminder of Malacañang in reaction to the accident.

The accident also seem to show us we no longer have enough competent civil engineers to supervise big infrastructure projects. This has dire implications for the ambitious Build Build Build program. The Cavite accident only involves a flyover of less than a kilometer, what more for more complicated projects?

Choose one of the following: the civil engineer on that Cavite job cannot compute; cannot make proper equipment assignment based on his computations; or agreed to compromise by taking a chance that shouldn’t have been taken.

Or they will blame the lowest guys on the totem pole, which are the crane operators. But that still implies we do not have the trained manpower for big construction projects.

There are plenty of very competent Filipino civil engineers with experience in big construction projects. The thing is… they are not here… they are gainfully employed abroad.

The European bureau of ABS-CBN News recently had a story about how four Filipino engineers are helping build a large and complicated metro subway project in Denmark. Their boss told ABS-CBN News that the Filipino engineers “are competent, always positive, and disciplined, always ready to collaborate in a very positive way and we are extremely pleased having these guys in our project.”

The Filipino engineers have extensive experience in construction projects elsewhere in the world, mostly the Middle East. Will they come home? Maybe they would consider if they can be assured local projects are undertaken based on world class standards. World class compensation is also assumed.

But government can’t even get going with the awarding of the major BBB projects. Bureaucratic procedures and rising costs are major causes of delay.

They have had failed bids in that common station for the LRT/MRT in Trinoma, depot of LRT1 in Pasay and LRT 2 electro mechanical works. The economic managers have made wrong assumptions on, for example, energy cost. Sec. Ernie Pernia admitted they never expected $80 a barrel oil.

Where will they get fresh funds to avoid more delays? There is a clamor to scrap the excise tax on oil under TRAIN 1. If they can do this at all, that means the estimated revenues under TRAIN 1 will be drastically reduced.

It would be two years of the Duterte administration by next month and we have not seen much by way of big ticket infra projects actually getting off the ground. The longer they delay awarding projects, the certainty of price escalations will make awarding more difficult.

The President is not expected to give a report on BBB in his State of the Nation Address. Maybe there isn’t much to report yet. Even the outright donations like the bridges that China will build for us across the Pasig River is still in the realm of talk.

DPWH has been buying sponsored posts in social media extolling Secretary Villar and the BBB plans. The expense being incurred by the taxpayers could have been justified if more information on status of projects were given. Wala. Just sheer propaganda bullsh*t.

For now, only the most diehard Duterte fans can believe we are getting somewhere close to the promises Mr. Duterte told us he will deliver in new infrastructure.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco