Contractor told to repair Carbon project defects

After getting flak from the Cebu City government for the defective school buildings it constructed, Zamboanga-based contractor MSDLR Construction is facing a new controversy with its renovation works on Carbon Market Unit I.

Councilor Roberto Cabarrubias said he wanted the contractor to correct defects he found on the newly completed renovation works on Carbon Market unit I.

These include the drainage covers, which were not made to fit properly the drainage and broken floor tiles on some portions of the market floor.

Cabarrubias attributed the defects to the practice of subcontracting, which the MSDLR practiced.

“They can profit from subcontracting … but the quality of our projects would suffer with this practice,” he said in Cebuano.

Cabarrubias said he would discuss with the city engineering office ways to safeguard the city’s projects against the practice of subcontracting.

He also wanted to know why the project engineering section of the city engineering office failed to the detect defects on the carbon renovation works.

“Dapat makit-an ni sa project inspector. Pero ambot ngano wala ni nila nabantayan,” he said.

Cabarrubias said he inspected Carbon unit I on Thursday to check on the work completed by MSDLR Construction and found the defects.

The renovation works, which was estimated at close to P2 million, was awarded to the Zamboanga-based contractor during the previous administration. Work was implemented shortly after Mayor Michael Rama was elected on May 2010.

MSDLR also won bidding for the P2.65-million replacement of the roof of the Carbon Market.

But project implementation was temporarily put on hold until such time that they could correct defects of the school building project in the mountain barangay of Toong.

Meanwhile, Cabarrubias said that he is now in the process of inspecting the batching plants of four project contractors who won the bidding for the implementation of the city’s P100-million asphalt storm.

He visited the Soccor Construction batching plant in Labogon, Mandaue, on Monday.

Cabarrubias said he checked on their laboratory and the kind of aggregates that they use for asphalt curing.

He visited the batching plant of WTG Construction yesterday morning.

“Mas maayo ug makita gyud nato personal aron ug naay corrections (in the asphalt mixing) ato dayon ma tawag ang ilang attention to maximize the project,” he told CDN.