Members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod once again called the attention of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 3rd Engineering District and the contractor of the ongoing repair of Wescom Road, which has been pending for several months now and is causing inconvenience to motorists.
Councilor Luis M. Marcaida III said in a privilege speech during their regular session on Monday that this is the second time in two months that they are calling out DPWH and the contractor of the project. He said he has received a number of complaints from residents of the area because of the “very bad” condition of the road.
“I am raising this to get the attention of the DPWH by calling the attention of the contractor in charge of the construction of Wescom road because right now as we speak, the condition of the road is really bad,” Marcaida stated.
Councilor Patrick Hagedorn also raised the same concern in a priviledge speech some two months ago.
Marcaida further stated that during the committee meeting where they invited representatives from DPWH and the contractor, the only explanation they got was that weather conditions prevented the contractor to proceed with the completion of the project.
He said DPWH had promised that they will closely monitor the construction but since then, he still continued to receive complaints from the public.
Hesaid that while the estimated date of completion is February next year “looking at the condition of the construction, it seems the target will not be met.”
Hagedorn for his part observed that the project was sub-contracted to another company by its original contractot. He also said that based on the explanation of DPWH, the contractor is on-lock with the progress of the project which means there is no slippage or delay.
“Pero wala silang slippage kasi nga, ang ginawa nila is binakbak na nila yung buong kalsada which is counted as progress sa project nila. Pero ang mali nila is binakbak nga nila yung pagkahaba-habang portion ng kalsada, hindi naman nila masemento,” Hagedorn explained.
“And then one time, nagbuhos sila gamit ang transit mixer, and ang problema was, alas kwatro ng hapon which is rush hour, so halos walang makagalaw na sasakyan, he added.
Meanwhile, Councilor Jimmy L. Carbonell urged the DPWH to coordinate with the Office of the City Mayor and the City Engineering Office on how projects will be implemented to discuss how contractors will implement infrastructure projects, in order to avoid similar incidents in the future.
