BAGUIO CITY – The City Council reiterated its previous invitation for regional and district officials of the Department of Public works and Highways (DPWH) to appear before its regular session on August 1, 2016 to shed light on the snail-paced implementation of their projects and the unabated citywide diggings causing monstrous traffic congestions in the central business district area.
The local legislative body expressed disappointment over the failure o regional and district officials of the agency to appear in last Monday’s regular session without even sending a written notice stating the reasons for their non-appearance.
Members of the council were to air the sentiments of the public in relation to the on-going implementation of city infrastructure projects, particularly the non-compliance of the erring contractors to simple project specifications and their failure to install appropriate early warning signages and flagmen in chokepoints within their construction sites.
The appearance of regional and district officials of the DOPWH before Council’s regular session was fundamental in seeking explanations and justifications on the very slow implementation of their projects and the contractors’ failure to fulfil their commitments to complete most of their projects within the central business district by the first week of July.
It will be recalled that last May 23, 2016, DPWH officials committed to complete the drainage projects in the central business district area will be completed within this month but ocular observation will confirm that several of these projects now the cause of the monstrous traffic jams in the central business district.
The inability of contractors to install the appropriate early warning signages and the capacity of regional and district officials of the DPWH to strictly monitor the compliance of the contractors to such simple provisions in their contracts is being questioned by some legislators and these should have been clarified had these entities appeared before the legislative body.
Obvious contractors’ lack of adequate personnel to immediate complete their projects, especially in the central business district, is leading to traffic jams resulting to loss of valuable time for those who are working.
Observers opine that the regional and district offices of the DPWH must verify with concrete proof that winning contractors must be financially and technically competent to implement projects in a timely manner with the highest quality prescribed in their contracts.
The council will decide on its future actions against the DPWH officials who will again snub the next Council meeting without justifiable reasons./By Dexter A. See
