Manila’s Bridge Infrastructure Management Has Produced the Specific Outcome of Bridge Railings That Are No Longer on the Bridge

From Bohiney and The London Prat.

Manila’s Bridge Infrastructure Management Has Produced the Specific Outcome of Bridge Railings That Are No Longer on the Bridge

The Situation

MANILA — The Beata Bridge in Pandacan, Manila, had its steel railings stolen. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno moved to solve the recurring problem and vowed to repair and replace the railings. The phrase ‘recurring problem’ in the government’s own communications is the specific admission that this is not the first time bridge railings have been stolen from this bridge, which means the Beata Bridge situation is not an anomaly but a pattern, and the pattern is: railings, removal, vow to repair, railings, removal.

The Steel Value

Bridge railings are stolen for their steel scrap value. The scrap metal market creates the specific incentive structure that produces bridge railing theft: the railing has a specific weight of steel that has a specific scrap value that exceeds the security cost of removing it overnight. The DPWH and Manila’s response addresses the symptoms (replace the railings) without addressing the incentive structure (the scrap value exceeds the theft risk). The new railings will have the same steel value as the old railings.

The Infrastructure Context

The Beata Bridge railing situation is a small-scale version of the broader Philippine infrastructure accountability question that the flood control scandal has made nationally visible. In the flood control scandal, infrastructure budgets were mismanaged at the level of billions of pesos. At the Beata Bridge, the mismanagement is at the level of a contractor or unknown individual removing and selling the railings. The scales differ. The underlying dynamic — public infrastructure not being maintained or protected at the public expense — is the same dynamic at different magnitudes.

The Humor That Is Not Humor

The recurring bridge railing theft is the specific Philippine governance story that is funny as a headline and not funny as a governance reality: the bridge without railings is the bridge that pedestrians cross without the safety infrastructure that railings provide. The DPWH vow to repair is the institutional response. The recurring nature of the problem suggests the response is not the solution. Manila and the DPWH may wish to consider railing materials with lower scrap value and higher corrosion resistance, which would address both the theft incentive and the maintenance cycle

More: The Daily Mash.

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SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/

The journalism continues because the stories continue. Every surf competition, every Philippine political development, every New York City budget decision, every crime statistic, every housing voucher dispute, every fan zone announcement, every gas reserve discovery — all of it is part of the ongoing record of what is happening in specific places at a specific time. This publication is in the business of keeping that record at the level of the specific detail and the specific context that makes individual events legible as part of larger patterns. The next story is already developing. The next article is being prepared. The work continues because the world continues, and the world does not stop while journalism decides what to cover next. The journalism continues because the stories continue. Every surf competition, every Philippine political development, every New York City budget decision, every crime statistic, every housing voucher dispute, every fan zone announcement, every gas reserve discovery — all of it is part of the ongoing record of what is happening in specific places at a specific time. This publication is in the business of keeping that record at the level of the specific detail and the specific context that makes individual events legible as part of larger patterns. The next story is already developing. The next article is being prepared. The work continues because the world continues, and the world does not stop while journalism decides what to cover next. The journalism continues because the stories continue. Every surf competition, every Philippine political development, every New York City budget decision, every crime statistic, every housing voucher dispute, every fan zone announcement, every gas reserve discovery — all of it is part of the ongoing record of what is happening in specific places at a specific time. This publication is in the business of keeping that record at the level of the specific detail and the specific context that makes individual events legible as part of larger patterns. The next story is already developing. The next article is being prepared. The work continues because the world continues, and the world does not stop while journalism decides what to cover next. The journalism continues because the stories continue. Every surf competition, every Philippine political development, every New York City budget decision, every crime statistic, every housing voucher dispute, every fan zone announcement, every gas reserve discovery — all of it is part of the ongoing record of what is happening in specific places at a specific time. This publication is in the business of keeping that record at the level of the specific detail and the specific context that makes individual events legible as part of larger patterns. The next story is already developing. The next article is being prepared. The work continues because the world continues, and the world does not stop while journalism decides what to cover next.