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Monday, August 06, 2007
Cebu City road caves in near dig site
By Rene H. Martel
CEBU CITY -- A Cebu City councilor is demanding a public apology from a construction company and for it to immediately fix a portion of J. Solon St. that caved in because of an excavation for a hotel it is building.
Young Builders Corp. will also have some explaining to do for closing off a stretch of the street right by the construction site from the corner of Escario Ext. up to the Archbishop Reyes Ave. junction.
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Cebu City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem said he received numerous complaints on the matter but just thought that the road closure already had the concurrence of the City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) board.
But when he asked Citom Executive Officer Arnel Tancinco about it, he learned that Young Builders was not authorized yet to block off a portion of the road.
The councilor viewed the construction site from the nearby Parklane Hotel Sunday and saw that not only was half of the two-lane road sealed off, a third of the length of the road also collapsed because of the excavation.
Engineer Roland Araneta, whom Sun.Star Cebu interviewed at the construction site, said their application for road closure is already “being processed.”
He said when the construction for the 25-story hotel of Cebu Renful Development Corp. started last May, they partially closed the road “for safety reasons.”
He said they needed a buffer for the excavation because the soil was loose, which increased the risk of a slide.
Araneta confirmed that a cave-in occurred last Wednesday after a heavy downpour.
The incident is the third reported ground movement in Cebu City due to the heavy rains last week. Last Thursday, three huge trees fell on the roof of a building in Busay Elementary School, scaring over 100 schoolchildren, after a landslide.
Slide
Last Saturday, another landslide occurred in the Transcentral Highway, specifically in Sitio Hoyohoy, Barangay Busay.
“Ongoing pa ang pag-process sa permits. For safety purposes, among gisirad-an ang dalan... para naa’y fallback (area). Mga Monday makahatag na mi’g feedback,” Araneta told Sun.Star Cebu Sunday (The processing of the permits is ongoing but we decided to close the road so we could have an allowance. We could give feedback tomorrow).
He said the 11-meter-deep digging was for the three-basement section of the structure.
But Jakosalem just scoffed at the claim, saying Araneta contradicted himself when he said that soil was loose and that a 25-story building was to be constructed.
“Loose soil? Dangerous diay ang hotel? By his admission, a 25-story hotel will be built on loose soil,” the councilor said (He’s saying the hotel will be dangerous).
He said Young Builders will have to explain to the City its violation.
“It seemed nga ila gyung gidaginot ang ilang property para sa building maong hasta dalan gisirad-an. I will have to ask the building official and Citom on this,” the councilor said (It seemed they did not observe the required easement that they had to close the road to make use of the space).
“Whatever explanation they have, they have to fix it asap (as soon as possible), publish in the newspaper a public apology, and pay a penalty,” he said.
Dispute
Jakosalem said the company “better focus on fixing that City-owned road before continuing the building construction.”
He said that when Parklane was built, the contractor did not close the road.
Young Builders might also have to contend with a hostile City Government after refusing to vacate Unit 2 of the Carbon Public Market despite demands from City Hall.
It had been awarded the P22-million contract by the previous administration to rebuild the building, which was burned in 1998.
Later, instead of reconstructing it, Mayor Tomas Osmeña decided to have a P135-million ramp built so motorists can use it to go through M.C. Briones St. and City Hall clear Quezon Blvd. of vehicular traffic.
When the City bid out the ramp two years ago, WT Construction won and was awarded the P135-million contract.
But WT still has to begin civil works at the site because Young Builders built a fence and refused to allow entry to the area until the City pays an additional P6 million, further delaying the ramp’s construction.
Young Builders demanded the amount as payment for the additional work not covered by the contract, but the City initially refused because of the unauthorized variation orders and the lack of a building permit.
Deadlock
Early this year, Osmeña decided to pay the P6 million so work on the ramp connecting the three Carbon Public Market units can start soon.
Though City Hall agreed to pay, it required Young Builders to sign an agreement for it to post a P6-million bond as safety net, in case the Commission on Audit disallows the payment.
Young Builders, however, has not responded to the proposal and did not budge even after City Hall issued a notice for it to vacate the property.
WT Construction has been waiting for Young Builders to clear Unit 2 so it could begin constructing the ramp.
Late last June, City Administrator Francisco Fernandez announced that the City was canceling the contract with Young Builders for failing to respond to a compromise agreement the City proposed early this year.
And the City will charge the company rent for refusing to vacate the area. (Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (August 6, 2007 issue)
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