The project was first implemented in 2016 around Davao City Hall and Sangguniang Panlungsod.
In 2021, a portion of San Pedro Street and the long stretch of Claveria Street were the second areas cleaned of overhead hanging and jumbled wires.
“The first part of the underground cabling project in R. Magsaysay covers the Philippine Post Office up to the corner of Suazo Street. Additionally, the civil works of Davao Light are now 23.5% complete. Civil works include the excavation and installation of conduits and manholes to lay the pipes where the primary lines will go through,” DLPC said in a statement, Monday (Nov. 7).
R. Magsaysay Ave. with an alternative name of Uyanguren Street lies next to Sta. Ana. These two streets border the Davao China Town being the primary residential area of the Chinese Community in the city.
DLPC also announced It will now be using pre-fabricated manholes that will only take 48 hours from the usual4-6 weeks manhole construction. The company said Davao Light engineers made the innovation to lessen the timeframe of the closure of roads due to construction works.
“The pre-fabricated manhole is Davao Light’s innovation to minimize public inconvenience and [the cost and timeframe] of the project implementation. We construct the manhole, where the primary lines will go through, in a separate, controlled area and then deliver them to the site for construction to make the process considerably faster,” Engr. Leo Remulta, the project lead of Davao Light for the R. Magsaysay Avenue area said in an interview.
DLPC said it is targeting to complete the civil works on the first part of the R. Magsaysay area by the first quarter of 2023 after which, the electrical works will follow and are expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2024.
“We thank everyone for their continued support and understanding while we conduct our underground cabling activities at night to mitigate the possible heavy traffic in the area,” Engr. Chad Ramos, head of Davao Light Power Systems Design Department (PSDD), said.
The underground cabling is provided under Davao City Ordinance No. 0152-17, Series of 2017 of the city government mandating all telecommunication companies and Davao Light to convert overhead lines to an underground system.
The completion of the project hopes to make the city more attractive to investors and tourists as only a few cities are implementing the underground cabling project in the Philippines, DLPC said. Judy Quiros photo by DLPC
The pre-fabricated manhole, an innovation by Davao Light engineers, is installed at the site within 48 hours compared to the usual construction and installation of manholes which take up to 4-6 weeks.
The major construction activities of the underground cabling project start Friday evening and end earlyMonday the following week to mitigate the possible heavy traffic on R. Magsaysay Avenue.