MANILA, Philippines — The scheduled closure of a portion of the Marcos Highway Bridge on Saturday (May 11), will no longer push through.
In a statement on Thursday, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said the closure and rehabilitation of the east-bound or Antipolo-bound section of the highway is “postponed until further notice.”
This is the second time that the MMDA deferred the closure of the bridge, which was supposed to implement a “total rehabilitation”of the area that could take at least four months.
The closure of the east-bound or the Antipolo-bound section of the bridge was originally set for May 4, but it was re-scheduled to May 11.
READ: Marcos Highway Bridge closure postponed to May 11 — MMDA
MMDA explained that the delay was due to the failure of the private contractors “to install signage and carry out the necessary preparations for the agreed traffic rerouting plan in the area.”
MMDA General Manager Jojo Garcia will meet with the contractor next week to discuss the preparations, so he can decide when the repair will start.
Meanwhile, MMDA Edsa traffic head Bong Nebrija said in a Facebook post that the agency did not want to commit on a specific date for the closure since they will have to check whether all requirements were complied with by the contractors.
“We didn’t want to commit on the specific date of its [bridge’s] closure because we need to determine if all requirements are complied with by the contractor,” Nebrija said in a Facebook post.
“Since there are still some issues that need to be addressed, the closure of the Marcos Highway Bridge will be postponed to a later date until further notice,” he added. /ee