DPWH engr.: Funds for flyover re-aligned to road repair project

THE funds for the road concreting project covering UN Avenue near the Marcelo Fernan bridge was re-aligned from a two-lane flyover project intended for Ouano Avenue in the North Reclamation Area in Mandaue City, public works officials said last week.

Engineer Rachel Lumapas of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-7) explained to local media that the P156 million flyover project was rejected by Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, who said it wasn’t feasible.

Both Cortes and Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza berated the DPWH-7 for failing to coordinate with them on the UN Avenue road concreting project, saying it would severely disrupt traffic flow in the area.

In a press conference held at the Mandaue City Council session hall last week, Lumapas said the concreting project was conceived four months ago. “We always coordinated our projects with local government units (LGU),” Lumapas said.

Lumapas said traffic officials from both Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities attended a meeting they held with the contractor PB Obial Construction on the project.

She said Cortes rejected the flyover project since the original plan was a four-lane flyover. “Ouano Avenue has eight lanes and they would only give two lanes? It would choke traffic there,” said Floretino Nimor of Mandaue City’s planning office.

Lumapas admitted it was their fault that they haven’t formally notified Cortes and Radaza on the UN Avenue road concreting project. “We didn’t see the amount of time needed by LGUs to prepare for it, so it won’t happen again,” she said.

In a letter addressed to Lapu-Lapu City Traffic Management Services head Frank Brazil last Aug. 9, DPWH-7 Regional Director Ador Canlas asked for traffic assistance for the P28 million UN Avenue road concreting project.

Work on the project starts on Aug. 20. A furious Radaza said the DPWH-7 “oversight” reminded her of another road concreting project done by the same agency in Marigondon which drew complaints from her constituents.

She said she didn’t hear of the project until local media asked her about the city’s preparations for the project which is scheduled for completion in 108 days or at the end of November this year.

Lumapas said they were supposed to start the project last Aug. 8, but Cortes asked them to move the project to a later date since they still have to make preparations.

The road concreting project will cover nearly a kilometer stretch of the four lanes of U.N. Avenue in the Mandaue City side from corner Plaridel St.to the foot of the Fernan bridge. /Correspondents Jessa Chrisna Marie J. Agua and Norman V. Mendoza