MANILA, Philippines–The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has given the Department of Public Works and Highways first engineering district in Quezon City the go-ahead to repair Congressional Avenue and the thoroughfare’s extension, some sections of which have been damaged by passing trucks and other heavy vehicles.
District Engineer Roseller Tolentino recently relayed the “good news” to the Inquirer as he also disclosed that they would “start conducting the weekend road repairs shortly.”
“We intend to maximize the time given to us by the MMDA in doing our road repair activities” on the national road which is nearly five kilometers long, he said.
Tolentino furnished this paper a copy of the MMDA “road repair clearance” valid from June 27 to Nov. 23, 2014.
The document was signed by lawyer Emerson Carlos, assistant general manager for operations, and Director Noemie Recio.
The DPWH official did not say why his office got the document more than three months after it was issued by the Makati City-based agency.
According to the MMDA clearance 14E-1869, the “permitted work” was the “proposed rehabilitation, upgrading and preventive maintenance of Congressional Avenue Extension for the duration of 150 calendar days.”
Tolentino and Assistant District Engineer Edilberto Quiambao earlier noted that the quality of several national roads in their area of jurisdiction like Congressional Avenue, Congressional Avenue Extension and Mindanao Avenue had deteriorated.
The busy thoroughfares were among those designated as “truck routes” by a Malacañang-created interagency task force on traffic management which included the MMDA and the Department of Transportation and Communications, they said.
Quiambao reported that their field personnel and motorists had observed a lot of cracks on Congressional Avenue Extension.
“Cracks have appeared on the heavily stressed roads. They were caused mainly by passing trucks and other heavy vehicles,” he said.
Tolentino added that they were “ready to conduct the much-needed road repairs,” stressing that the repair and maintenance of national roads and bridges were part of their mandate.
On the other hand, the DPWH engineering district in Pasig City has yet to be issued a similar road clearance by the MMDA for the repair of the C-5 Service Road on the corner of Pasig Boulevard in Barangay (village) Bagong-Ilog.