Officials to tackle reopening of Magallanes flyover to trucks

Authorities hope to get by Thursday a clearer idea of when the Magallanes flyover in Makati City could be reopened to trucks and other heavy vehicles. Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said a technical meeting with the Makati City government and First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC) was scheduled Thursday morning. "Magkakaroon ng technical meeting para ma-assess ang shoring kagabi. Medyo talagang abala yan dahil main thoroughfare to the south," Singson said in an interview on dwIZ radio. (We will have a technical meeting to assess the shoring of the affected part Wednesday night. We are aware the partial closure of the interchange is a major inconvenience because it is a main thoroughfare to the south.) Magallanes flyover The excavation work on the FPIC pipeline was halted on Thursday as authorities suspect the structural integrity of the Magallanes flyover may have been compromised. According to a “24 Oras" report on Wednesday, digging crews searching for a leak in FPIC's pipeline reportedly hit a girder or a support beam of the Magallanes Interchange. An inspection conducted by the Bureau of Fire Protection, Makati Public Safety Department (MPSD), and Philippine National Police (PNP) showed that FPIC's digging operations affected a flyover girder, a major support of the structure. As of 11 p.m. on Wednesday, all heavy vehicles were be banned from passing through the flyover. However, the DPWH Secretary assured the public that the flyover was still secure as they already "shored up" the retaining wall of the structure. He said workers at the excavation site used jackhammers "very gently" even if there was a clearance between the interchange footing and concrete pipe. "Safe pa naman yan, ang retaining wall lang naman ang apektado (The interchange is safe. As far as I know, the retaining wall was affected)," he said. Pipelines for petroleum products The FPIC has two main pipelines transporting petroleum products from oil refineries in Batangas to terminals in Pandacan, Manila. The Lopez-owned FPIC has a 25-year concession to transport crude and refined petroleum products until 2017. The damaged pipeline is FPIC's 117-kilometer “white line" that carries gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and aviation fuel and other refined petroleum products. Its other pipeline, called the “black line," transports heavier petroleum products. Valves of the pipeline were closed while the digging is being carried out. In a “24 Oras" report, the FPIC said the gas leak may have been caused by stress exerted on its pipeline by the Magallanes Interchange. The flyover has a daily heavy volume of vehicles. The structure itself is heavy, the FPIC noted. FPIC workers have thus made a two meter-wide excavation along Osmeña Boulevard, at the foot of the 500-meter Magallanes Interchange. The Magallanes Interchange was built in the 1970s. At that time, the FPIC already expressed apprehensions about the building of such a structure on top of their pipeline. Pipeline shut down The FPIC first shut down the pipeline on July 12 after a gas leak was reported at the West Tower Condominium in Bangkal, Makati, which is near the path of the pipeline. However, the pipeline was reopened on July 15. The FPIC closed the pipeline for the second time on July 21 but opened it again on July 24. On July 29, the Energy Department and the Makati government both cleared the FPIC. The DOE then said FPIC had nothing to do with the gas leak at West Tower. The company shut down the pipeline for the third time on October 28 to determine the source of petroleum leak at the West Tower Condominium along Osmeña Highway, Barangay Bangkal, Makati City. The excavation began only after geologists of the University of the Philippines National Institute of Geological Sciences (UP-NIGS) discovered another oil leak in the area, this time along the south-bound service road of Osmeña Highway in Barangay Bangkal, just a few meters from West Tower. As the pipeline was closed, FPIC had to use trucks to transport petroleum products from Batangas to Metro Manila. Singson admitted that trucks delivering fuel from Batangas refineries to the Pandacan oil depot in Manila cannot take the place of the pipeline. "Ang existing trucks di kaya dalhin ang volume sa Pandacan. Kung gagamitin ang regular tankers siguro 50% lang ang katumbas ng delivery sa Pandacan kaya napaka-critical ng pipeline na yan," he said. (That pipeline is very critical that the existing number of trucks can carry only half the amount of fuel the pipeline can transport from Batangas to Manila.) –VVP, GMANews.TV