ANGELES CITY- With the rainy season already catching up with projects lined up for completion before the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit here in January next year, Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan warned yesterday contractors to hasten work or face charges.
“I am giving local contractors a week to go back to normal working operations at the Pandan-Magalang Road widening project,” Pamintuan said, referring to the P60-million project under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Pamintuan said he was dismayed over the progress of all projects under the DPWH in this city which is slated to host some 3,000 APEC summit participants at nearby Clark Freeport this January.
“Finish the projects fast or we will file cases,” Pamintuan warned, demanding “overtime work” from the contractors.
Pamintuan also urged the DPWH to “disqualify the contractors if they can’t catch up.” The widening of the Pandan-Magalang Road has been stalled a second time even as JQG Construction firm claimed it had to wait yet for the completion of some of 31 drainages in the area first.
But Pamintuan also cited “red-tape” and other “procedural quandaries especially in the regional office of the DPWH that hamper the progress on the projects.” He did not give details.
Another less costly project totally abandoned by its contractor is the upgrading of 6th street near Clark, the shortest alternative route at the boundary of Mabalacat and Angeles City in lieu of the often traffic-clogged MacArthur Highway.
The contractor was noted to have removed the road’s potholed concrete and then abandoned the road which turns into totally impassable thick mud during rains. The concrete slabs from the road have also become an eyesore in the area.
Earlier last May, Pamintuan had already decried slow work on major projects lined up for completion before next year’s APEC summit. “It seems that our repeated appeals have fallen upon deaf ears and they continuously disregard our call to speed up these road improvement projects,” he lamented.
The mayor noted that the city government’s Facebook account has been receiving mounting complaints from irate residents adversely affected by the delays in the construction of the projects. He noted that “the city government has even offered assistance to DPWH to address all issues and problems stalling construction works like road right of way problems and road obstructions such as uncut trees and electric posts.”
Apart from the Pandan-Magalang Road and 6th street, the other projects being rushed for the APEC summit include upgrading of the Mac-Arthur Highway in the Balibago commercial district costing P41.5 million, and the Friendship Road costing P100 million; and the widening and upgrade of the drainage system along Don Bonifacio Road costing P19 million.
The projects also include footbridges across busy roads now also underway, including one costing P22 million in front of the Chevalier School near the boundary of Angeles and the capital city of San Fernando. Another footbridge is being eyed across the highway in Balibago district in front of Systems Plus School.
“These footbridges have to be constructed now in order to ensure the smooth flow of traffic and the safety of our students and other pedestrians crossing Mac Arthur Highway,” Pamintuan added.
