The Dumaguete City Council is expected to approve a request of Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria on Tuesday for the release of P7.4 million to purchase a backhoe and a bulldozer. {{more}}
The two units which are eyed by the City are second-hand and reconditioned Japanese-made units. They will be used for the re-channeling of the Banica River in order to avoid a repetition of the worst flood to hit Dumaguete last February 7 2008.
Sagarbarria said there is a need to buy these equipment at the soonest possible time because of the onset of the rainy season. “The longer it takes us to buy these equipment, the greater would be the risk of people living in disaster-prone areas,” he said.
The Council this week had turned down this same request over apprehensions made by some Councilors about the wisdom of buying second-hand equipment. Councilor Manny Arbon, in a radio interview Thursday afternoon, said he does not know the merits of buying reconditioned equipment and would go for buying a brand new unit. “In the meantime, we can just rent,” he said.
But in a meeting Friday, the councilors agreed to drop their opposition to Sagarbarria’s request after the mayor explained the financial position of the City.
“If money were not a problem, I would definitely go for brand new, but we don’t have P26 million. What we have is P7.4 million and this will only buy us reconditioned Japanese- made units,” Sagarbarria told the Star.
He said based on his experience, there are a lot of good reconditioned units in the market. “That is why there are stores that sell second-hand units,” he said.
He said the suggestion of some councilors that the City would just rent some equipment before buying brand new would turn out to be very expensive for the city.
- Advertisement -