Mandaluyong dialogue with DPWH chief today

Businessmen and homeowners who have been inconvenienced over the last two years by stagnant waters blamed on an ongoing flood-control project in Mandaluyong City will have a chance Thursday to air their concerns and be updated on the project’s status.

Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson will be facing them at 8:30 a.m. today (Thursday) for a “consultation meeting” to be held at Kaban ng Hiyas Auditorium in Maysilo.

Jimmy Isidro, the city’s public information office chief, said Singson would be meeting with Mayor Benhur Abalos and the affected businessmen and residents to discuss the problems arising from unfinished project on Maysilo Circle and adjacent streets.

The meeting was set a week after Singson called up Abalos to apologize for the inconvenience and after the city government ended up being criticized over a project being implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Last month, Abalos wrote Singson to inform him of the deteriorating condition around Maysilo Circle, where City Hall is located, and other adjacent streets.

Since the project started in January 2013, the mayor noted,  a number of establishments in the area had closed shop as customers avoided it because of the foul-smelling water.

In his last State of the City Address, Abalos called on the DPWH to blacklist the project’s contractor, LR Tiqui Builders Inc., should the company be found “negligent” of its responsibilities.

Isidro said city officials were hoping that the meeting would result in the project finally being completed.