OPERATORS OF JAPAN EXPRESSWAY VISIT ROAD MOUNTAIN TUNNEL PROJECT IN DAVAO CITY

Operators of Japan Expressway Visits Road Mountain Tunnel Project in Davao City

Major Japanese expressway players visited the Davao City Bypass Road Construction Project in southern Philippines in line with the cooperation program between the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) to share the wealth of engineering expertise and technology on the construction, operation and maintenance of road tunnels and expressways.

Together with DPWH Senior Undersecretary Emil K. Sadain; Assistant Secretary Constante A. Llanes Jr.; MLIT Deputy Director General Homare Kubota and Consul General of Japan in Davao Ishikawa Yoshihisa; Project Directors Benjamin A. Bautista and Rodrigo I. Delos Reyes of DPWH Unified Project Management Office (UPMO) Operations; and DPWH Region 11 OIC Assistant Director Joselito B. Caballero, the representatives of six (6) Japanese expressway firms toured on October 5, 2022 the north portal of the on-going tunnel project which is the centerpiece of Contract Package 1-1 of Davao City Bypass Construction Project.

The expressway companies are Central Nippon Expressway Co. Ltd., East Nippon Expressway Co. Ltd., West Nippon Expressway Co. Ltd., Metropolitan Expressway Company Ltd., Hanshin Expressway Company Ltd., Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway Company Ltd., and Japan Expressway International Company Ltd. including Philippine construction firm Prime Metro BMD Inc. and MGS Construction Inc.

According to Senior Undersecretary Sadain, the observation visit is a follow through activity to the workshop in Manila which pave the way for productive discussions and good interactions between leaders of Filipino and Japanese companies engaged in expressway and road tunnel projects for possible future business collaboration.

The Davao City Bypass Construction Project is setting unprecedented standards for twin tube road mountain tunnel construction.

When completed, the road mountain tunnel project will be the longest in the Philippines at 2.3 kilometers.

Another project in the pipeline in northern Luzon is the Dalton Bypass East alignment which has a tunnel component and with the loan negotiation expected to start soon.

The workshop, which is covered by a Memorandum of Cooperation signed on October 4, 2022 by DPWH Secretary Manuel M. Bonoan and MLIT Minister Tetsuo Saito gives a more leverage on how the Philippines can improve and enhance technology by adopting the state of the art technologies of Japan especially on projects like tunneling, expressway, and even long inter-island bridges, said Senior Undersecretary Sadain.

The 45.5-kilometer Davao City Bypass Construction Project is divided into six (6) contract packages (CP) with the on-going CP 1-1 awarded to the joint venture contractor Shimizu–Ulticon-Takenaka.

The construction of the road tunnel involves excavation of tunnel portal areas using the conventional “New Austrian Tunneling Method”, mucking or removal of soil from tunnel interior, initial shotcrete to protect from risk of fall materials and to prevent loosening during shotcrete application, steel ribs installation to provide effective structural protection, second shotcrete with wire mesh to secure stability, and rock bolt installation to provide bearing force and become a part of tunnel support system.

The completed tunneling has an average length of 200 meters for the northbound and southbound direction both at the north and south portal.

An excavation of three (3) to (4) meters are accomplished per day on each portal directions using specialized equipment such as drill jumbo, concrete spraying machine and articulated dump hauler to excavate tunnel that has a diameter of 10 meters.

The Davao City ByPass Road Construction Project is being implemented by DPWH Unified Project Management Office - Roads Management Cluster 1 (Bilateral) headed by Project Director Bautista with Project Manager Joselito B. Reyes as project in-charge.

In addition to the tunnel, the contract package involves construction of four (4)-lane road with a length of 7.9 kilometers; three (3) pairs of bridges with total length of 500 meters including the Davao River Bridge; two (2) underpasses and two (2) overpasses; 12 waterways culverts; and four (4) atgrade intersection.

The on-going Contract Package 1-1 costing 13.23 Billion is financed by Special Terms for Economic Partnership (STEP) Loan between Philippines and Japan International Cooperation Agency under loan agreement numbers PH-P261 and PH-P273.

Japan-supported big-ticket projects have played a crucial role in shaping and bolstering the Philippine infrastructure landscape.

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JRC: How a real estate worker became a leading visa consultant

By Steve Howe

JRC is a visa consultancy business based out of Cebu City and has seven offices currently around the central and eastern Visayas.

We caught up with the founder and owner JR Coca in his head office in Cebu City, reflecting on the past few years and what lies ahead in an emerging economy, and the return of overseas nationals after the pandemic closed much of the country, and how things will look for them now.

I asked JR just how the company came to be and why.

“For some 17 years, I worked in the real estate market mostly from my onedesk corner office at home. It was very tiring processing paperwork title deeds and all the associated work and could take months and years to be settled,” he said.

“I came to realize that doing the visas and associated was a process that took weeks and at most a few months to complete, and not many people were doing it. The complicated system for foreigners was a lot more straightforward for me, so I thought, why not, it was a service that was badly needed, and we can do it better.”

“So, since 2017, we have been growing, and acquiring new clients, the transition from real estate was not that hard, as the documentation is just a set format. It was more about getting the right staff working with us, who will understand the amount of legwork involved.”

Working out of a small office, JR says there has been a steady growth of staff and offices, from 2 offices and 4 staff to over 30 staff now spread around Cebu, Molboal, Panglao in Bohol and in Davao, and an office being set up in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental.

“A Manila office is needed, as most of the approval is centralized there, so you need staff there who are accredited to process there,” JR said.

“We offer the full range of visa services for those wanting to visit, and those already here who need all the official paperwork to live, stay, and marry here, as well as those wanting to work here.”

“We work with all the key elements needed, from legal to financial, and have our own in-house attorney and accountants ready to service our clients.”

The re-opening of borders and the returning tourists and residents will make them need to know the current rules and regulations, and JRC will update them as soon as they are changed.

“Information is key, as it can be a very stressful process and can be costly as well. We will ensure that all our clients will get the correct information at the time,” he added.

“We have at our core the need to work in our communities, and that our staff are always treated well and kept up to date with all the needs and changes so we can support them all through the difficult times during and since COVID,” he said.

“Our future is set in the contact with the overseas market, to be able to contact them via our social media and related networks, and that our staff are ready to meet the needs, both here and overseas,” JR said.

As for himself, “I am set in my ways to see that the company grows I make sure that all my staff are involved and happy. For me, I prioritize my family time, with my wife working alongside me to give a great future for my family going forward.”

JRC Visa Consultancy and Immigration Services founder and owner JR Coca

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