The Davao Light and Power Co. Inc. (DLPC) is now targeting another major thoroughfare in the city to be wire-free through its underground cabling system.

This came after the near completion of the electrical works for underground cabling activities on San Pedro Street, where civil works on the first part of the R. Magsaysay area are expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2023.

“After that, the electrical works will commence and are expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2024,” Leo Remulta, the DLPC project head, said in a statement Monday.

The underground cabling plan is mandated under a city ordinance passed in 2017, under which all telecommunication companies and Davao Light are required to convert overhead lines to an underground system.

The system aims to make attract more investors and tourists, as only a few cities in the country have underground cabling system.

Remulta said the first part of the underground cabling project in R. Magsaysay covers the Philippine Post Office up to the corner of Suazo Street.

“The civil works of DLPC are now 23.5 percent complete. It includes the excavation and installation of conduits and manholes to lay the pipes where the primary lines will go through,” he said.

With the innovation of DLPC engineers, he said the manholes that originally took 4-6 weeks to install will now only take 48 hours using pre-fabricated ones.

“The pre-fabricated manhole is DLPC’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,” he said. (PNA)