MMDA to clock Edsa repairs; but are they needed? critic asks
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) reminded contractors hired by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to strictly follow their road repairs schedule on Edsa during the Holy Week break, warning them that late starters would not be allowed to proceed.
In a media briefing on Tuesday, MMDA Chair Emerson Carlos said he had instructed traffic enforcers assigned to the project sites to check if the contractors would start on the time agreed upon, which is 2 a.m. on Maundy Thursday.
“If they will not be able to start at this time, they should not be allowed to continue because I am sure they will not be able to finish it by 2 p.m. on Easter Sunday,” Carlos said.
He said this was the final schedule of repairs—not the timetable earlier announced, which was from Wednesday night to Monday morning. The affected areas would be the stretch from Connecticut in San Juan City to Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong City on the southbound lane, and from Madison Street in Mandaluyong to Ortigas Avenue in Quezon City on the northbound side.
But Ricardo Ramos of the watchdog group Citizens Infrastructure Integrity Watchdog (Infrawatch) questioned the upcoming repair works, saying they were not even necessary.
“This is an overkill. The reblocking along the Edsa-Ortigas flyover which we saw the other night should not be more than nine meters or the length of two cars,” Ramos said, and yet the DPWH would be working on a 45-meter stretch.
Article continues after this advertisementThere is also “no visible road damage” in front of Edsa Shangri-La and Edsa Starmall near Shaw Boulevard, yet the DPWH marked an area for reblocking that is 50 meters long and 3.5 meters wide, said Ramos, who went to the spot to point it out to the Inquirer Monday night.
Such “minor damage” on Edsa can be repaired through simple asphalt overlay, which is also faster than reblocking, he stressed. “They just destroy even good roads or roads that can still be repaired using asphalt and other technology that can save the government 30 to 50 percent.”
