Thursday, June 19, 2008
Teddy hits ‘imagined’ problems at City Hall
“NOT half-baked but overcooked.”
That’s how former Mandaue City mayor Thadeo Ouano assessed P619 million worth of projects started during his administration but which have remained unfinished, a year after Ouano’s term ended.
City Engineer Antonio Sanchez has said the City will spend millions to finish these “half-baked” projects stalled by road right-of-way (RROW) acquisition problems and the lack of some materials.
“All it takes is for this present administration to have the political will to continue and complete projects started by the previous administration,” Ouano said in a press statement.
The former mayor added that the “imagined” problems highlight the present local executive’s incompetence.
Mistakes
But Mayor Jonas Cortes explained he only wants to make sure that previous mistakes don’t get repeated. Ouano’s son lost to Cortes, a former city councilor, in the May 2007 elections.
Cortes said his administration will continue the previous administration’s projects, provided that these are consistent with the law and take no shortcuts.
“They think they can do whatever they want, masangit lang diay in the end tungod sa ilang mga shortcuts (but they get snagged because of their shortcuts),” the mayor said.
Ouano said that had the Cortes administration continued the medium-rise housing project in Barangay Looc, it would be completed by now under the contracted price.
Corrective measures
Cortes, however, has pointed to the need for corrective measures in the project, which jacked up its price by as much as 50 percent the original cost.
The elevator, however, is not a problem as the design has provisions for an elevator shaft that can be fitted anytime when funds are available, Ouano said.
He also said the RROW had been addressed in the housing and G. Ouano road projects. The road project can be funded by loan proceeds “readily available from the Land Bank of the Philippines.”
All the present administration has to do, said Ouano, is to continue negotiations with the landowner for the RROW.
The Tabok widening project is also funded by loan proceeds from the Development Bank of the Philippines. All it will take is for the Cortes administration to submit the required documents, he added.
Even the drainage master plan is not a problem, said the former mayor, as the contractor is willing to finish it at a lesser price.
Questions
But Cortes’ technical advisers asked, if the funds had been available, why did the Ouano administration fail to finish the project on time?
The mayor also asked why the previous administration, when they bought an area for a project, did not include securing the RROW.
Cortes said he has received information that in the Ouano road project, a landowner still refuses to sell her property to the City.
The P100-million medium-rise housing project also has RROW problems.
City Hall is negotiating with Petron, which agreed to move back its fence by a few meters to provide right-of-way for the housing project.
Having provisions for an elevator shaft in the building design but installing elevators only later, when funds are available, is not right for the housing project, said Cortes.
Permit
Even if the building is completed, the City cannot give it an occupancy permit without the elevator required for a six-story building.
“We will be violating the same law that we are enforcing,” Cortes said.
The mayor also asked why 80 percent of the total amount for the drainage master plan was already released, yet not even a sheet of project paper was submitted.
“Somebody has to pay for this,” the mayor said. (OCP)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 19, 2008 issue)
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