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Tuesday, December 09, 2003
MPE-PMO speeds up Mancatian bridge
By Albert B. Lacanlale
PORAC -- After 12 years, people of this town can stop throwing invectives at the government.
This as President Arroyo ordered the Mount Pinatubo Emergency-Project Management Office (MPE-PMO) to hasten the construction of the Mancatian bridge crossing the Pasig-Potrero River here.
MPE-PMO project director Emil K. Sadain said the president issued the order amid the growing clamor from non-government organizations and local government officials for the immediate construction of the bridge. The span was totally destroyed at the height of lahar flows soon after the Pinatubo eruption in the early '90s.
Sadain said the project, which includes the improvement of approaches and the 270-meter concrete span, was delayed due to shortage of funds.
Due to the continuous delay, the people directly affected by the damaged bridge grew restive, bringing them to the brink of staging rallies to call the government's attention.
The enraged residents, mostly of this town, were only pacified by Father Resty Lumanlan, resident priest. He reportedly asked the residents to be patient while they are looking for other avenues to air their sentiments to the national leaders.
Lumanlan was the co-founder of the Foundation for Lingap Kapampangans Inc. or FLKI (formerly Save Pampanga Movement) who urged then president Fidel V. Ramos to save the province from lahar by constructing the multibillion-peso megadike.
Sadain said the MPE-PMO, tasked by its mother department - the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) - proposed that the bridge be included in the second phase of the foreign-funded Pinatubo Hazard Urgent Mitigation Project (PHUMP II).
This, MPE-PMO officials said, is since the government incurred savings from other projects.
Scheduled in Package Seven of Phump II, the bridge got a funding of more than P339 million and is originally estimated complete by April 23, 2005.
However, Sadain said Public works Sec. Florante Soriquez ordered for a "crash" plan be formulated to make the bridge passable in half the original timeframe. The plan also aims at completing the bridge before the rainy seasons.
Sadain said the project contractor, China International Waters and Electricity Co. (CIWEC), has engineered a 24-hour work shifts for its more than 150 workers to further speed up the construction.
So far, works for the bridge is estimated to be 20 percent ahead of schedule, Sadain bared.
(December 8, 2003 issue)
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