Thursday, May 15, 2008 Flyover builder laments delay in lot purchase
THE contractor of the Banilad-Talamban flyover at the Gov. Mariano Cuenco Ave.-A.S. Fortuna St. intersection said that unless the road is widened within the month, construction could not proceed and will result in further delay.
WTG Construction and Development Corporation project engineer Christoffer Semilla told the Cebu City Council yesterday that unless they fully close the road, they could not proceed with the construction.
Critical lots owned by the Go and Carungay families, he said, have to be cleared for the road widening.
Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem said it is the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) that must secure entry permits from the lot owners and clear the lots.
Semilla, who was invited to attend yesterday’s session, said they could not build one abutment, one span, and one approach of the flyover without the road widening.
He said they can proceed with the construction without the road widening if they fully close to vehicular traffic Gov. Mariano Cuenco Ave.
He said that if the road is widened starting this month, construction will be finished by the end of July.
Agustinito Hermoso, DPWH 7 legal officer who attended the session, assured that though no entry permit was secured, widening could proceed.
Documents
In an interview, he said Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north) have already secured an entry permit from the Go family.
The Carungays, he said, are among the 18 percent of the estimated 33 lot owners who are still submitting the required documents.
His statements, though, confused the councilors because at the start of his talk, he said 80 percent of the lot owners already signed contracts, while 18 percent are on the process of submitting documents.
He said the owners of the critical lots Semilla referred to were among those in the 80 percent.
But he later said that the owners, though they agreed to sell their properties, are still submitting documents, when pressed for clarification by the city councilors.
Most of the lot owners do not approve of the Bureau of Internal Revenue zonal valuation of P15,500 per square meter the DPWH offered, wanting to sell their properties at P20,000 to P30,000 per square meter.
The DPWH has negotiated for the owners to just agree to sign contracts for the sale of their properties for P15,500 per square meter “under protest.”
The DPWH said they will bring the issue to court, which will settle the lot owners’ petition for just compensation.
Recommendation
Hermoso said he is hesitant to recommend to the DPWH 7 director to approve the contracts because funds have not arrived yet.
He said P40 million is expected to arrive next week, and an additional P80 million next month.
He met Semilla on the corridor outside the Cebu City session hall and told him that the properties could be used to widen the road despite the lack of entry permits.
The DPWH has already negotiated with the Carungays in the past, and that they already agreed verbally to have their lot used to widen the road, said Hermoso.
Semilla also clarified why it seemed that there are no works being done during the night at the construction site.
“Most works were done below the pavement for the foundation of the columns. We were doing excavations. But we are now placing steel bars to the columns, and work is already aboveground,” he said.
He also said that they work round-the-clock in the offsite pre-fabrication of the steel beams, which explains why people see minimal onsite activities.
But the beams are already done and they are now about to be deploy ed to the construction site, making the widening of the road critical to the project at this point.
Department
And they will start working 24 hours a day on the construction site.
Also, the City Traffic Operations Management planning department has identified 23 lots to serve as pocket lanes for Gov. Cuenco Ave. from the Juan Luna Ave. corner to Talamban area.
Jakosalem, who eyed pocket lanes as alternative and immediate solution to traffic congestion compared to expanding the road, said that once the required budget for the pocket lanes is established, he will ask President Arroyo to allocate funds for it.
Jakosalem is close to the President, who acted as sponsor to his wedding.
Of the 23 pocket lanes, 12 are on the side of the road from Juan Luna to Talamban.
“I think this is the most practical way to address the traffic problem. It is not very expensive compared to the proposal to widen the road,” he said. (RHM)
