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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Di maayos kausap': MMDA to penalize 2 private contractors over unfinished EDSA road works

'Di maayos kausap': MMDA to penalize 2 private contractors over unfinished EDSA road works

Published Apr 1, 2024 09:46 am

mmda.jpg

photo: MMDA

The monstrous traffic jams along EDSA on Monday morning, April 1, were partly caused by the unfinished road works of two private contractors of a telecom company, according to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

And MMDA Don Artes was furious that the two private contractors, which he identified as contractors HGC Global Communications and RLink Corporation, did not comply with the agreement that the road works should have been done by 5 a.m. on Monday.

What further drew the ire of Artes was that there manholes that were left uncovered and not even a single worker from the two contractors were seen on the road to warn the motorists.

“We will penalize them. The reasons they cited when we asked them to explain are unacceptable and unjustifiable,” said Artes.

“We will issue a notice of violation against them due to the traffic build-up earlier today brought about by their failure to finish on time,” he added.

Aside from the P50,000 fine per diggings per day, Artes said the MMDA is studying the possibility of banning the two private contractors from applying for future excavation permits.

Before the Holy Week exodus, the MMDA allowed the two private contractors to conduct diggings for the installation of fiber optic cable along the southbound portion of EDSA for their client, the Globe Telecom.

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photo: MMDA

But the agreement was that road works should start from 11pm of Wednesday, March 27, and should have been finished, cleared, and passable to all motorists by 5 a.m. of April 1.

Based on the report by the MMA personnel on the ground, 24 of the 40 maholes were left uncovered and that there were traffic marshals seen on the road to at least man the traffic.

“As a result, the public mistakenly thought that those were MMDA and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects because they used the traffic cones and barriers of the agency,” Artes said.

The two private contractors have explained that they had a problem with logistics, including the delay in the delivery of cement.But Artes would not buy the explanation.

In order to make the road passable, Artes said both the MMDA and DPWH took over by pouring cement on open diggings.

Related Tags

ROAD WORKS MMDA edsa
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