Ugly, deep and gaping

A COUPLE of months ago when they began digging holes across our city streets, we kept our mouths shut thinking that the inconvenience was only temporary. Dali ra seguro na. Maybe in a month’s time, things would be fixed and we would be back to our normal, smooth city driving.

But now several months later, we are still faced with the same ugly, deep and gaping canals across our streets, proving more and more disastrous to the small cars and three-wheeled cabs that ply these streets 24 hours each dusty day. Months ago, it used to be just a few streets, not it’s all over. In many of these streets, traffic is one-way without any warning sign to show. The problem is heightened early mornings when students hurry to school and in the afternoons when people start going home. It’s beginning to tax many a taxpayer’s patience and causing many blood pressures to rise because in all honesty, there’s absolutely no technical sense why this business of laying pipes in these canals should take too long.

Assuming that it’s a two-inch lead pipe that you put there, the process does not require a lot of engineering aptitude. After you dig the canal, you put the pipe, put back the gravel and sand over the pipe and pour concrete over the area, covering it with a thick steel plate to allow vehicles to cross. You can finish several holes in one night this way so that it’s business as usual during day time. You work one street at a time so that you won’t put too much stress on traffic and on people’s nerves.

But the guys who are working on this contract – and I heard it’s several hundreds of millions – seem to relish on the idea that it’s better to dig canals all over the streets one after the other and later on lay own the pipes one after the other too. They can’t seem to realize the monstrous inconvenience they have been causing the general public since months ago and they don’t care. There’s not even a sign posted on these canals saying, “Sorry for the temporary inconvenience. This project is for your…blah, blah, blah.” Or a warning, “Beware of street holes”. At least drivers would be aware what they would be up to if they drive into these holes.

At least with the proper signs noting who the contractors are, what this project is all about and the contract price shown, people would be in a better position to understand and less prone to stress. In the absence of these signs, however, one gets the feeling that everybody knows what this digging is all about… Or is that part of the contract to keep taxpayers guessing?

Consider this the first in a series on this issue. There’s more to come.

Blood pressure monitor