Rama orders mall construction stopped due to mosque damage

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama suspended the construction of a portion of a department store in Barangay Mambaling yesterday, and told the developer to correct the deficiencies of the project.

The mayor’s directive came after the administrator of the mosque beside the construction site complained against the developer, alleging that the construction work caused damage to their mosque.

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Aside from the excavation work for a cistern, which was blamed for the damage on the Al Khaitiah Mosque, Rama said the front area of the department store is also too close to the sidewalk.

He wants the contractor to adjust the setback of the front area, pointing out that the current design will give the City Government problems when it starts to widen N. Bacalso Ave.

“I already told the OBO that I want the work on the portion that’s near the road to be temporarily suspended… They have to adjust the setback for the possible road widening in the future,” Rama said.

The Office of the Building Official (OBO) met with the contractor, their project engineers and the mosque administrator, Imam Aladdin Ubpon, yesterday and relayed the mayor’s order.

Although the City has not funded the road widening yet, he said he is hoping that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will prioritize the widening of N. Bacalso Ave. and Highway Tagunol instead of flyover projects.

“The widening is already part of our plan. For me, that should be the priority project of DPWH. We still have to check if DPWH can fund it,” he told a news conference yesterday.

Also yesterday, OBO Chief Josefa Ylanan instructed the project engineers of Paravisible Construction Co. to fill up the cistern with cement and aggregates to prevent further soil movement, which reportedly caused the mosque walls to crack.

As for Ubpon’s request for the contractor to renovate their mosque, Ylanan said she will leave this to the lawyers of both parties to agree on.

She said the contractor admitted that their project has some deficiencies, but she will not recommend imposing any penalty on the contractor for now.

“They have all the permits required so my instruction is just make the building safe and stable so they will not have any problem at the site again,” Ylanan said.

Last Sept. 18, four construction workers were injured after a portion of the same construction project collapsed. The construction was also suspended that time.