DPWH-7 exec’s projection: Underpass done by year’s end

CEBU, Philippines — The underpass project along N. Bacalso Avenue is expected to be completed by the end of this year, or three months earlier than the official target time which is March 2019, according to Department Works and Highways-7 Division Chief of Construction Division Joselito Sayson.

“Atong ipakuan  na mahuman nato earlier by the end of karong tuiga… Naa ta’s mga sixty-something percent na ta ‘ron,” said Sayson.

Sayson also said that the laborers working on the project are working more than eight hours a day so they can finish the project earlier than expected.

“Atong gipapaspasan nila mao ‘nang nagtrabaho sila more than eight hours a day. Ato silang gipa-overtime, they start earlier and they end later,” he said. Work could not be done 24/7 due to the noise affecting residents nearby.

Sayson also said the P638-million budget allocated for the project is enough to finish it.

“Yes, kay design and build man na siya,” Sayson said.

For now, he said the main challenge in this project is the traffic which bottlenecks in areas around the project because of the rerouting they have to implement.

He said there are no problems with the contractor since they have sufficient equipment and manpower.

It can be recalled that the underpass project was delayed after the DPWH-7 postponed the implementation due to many complaints on the need for more consultation and better preparation.

Commuters welcomed the projected early completion of the project.

One of them, Mark Jude Ramirez, 19, said that it will be good if the construction will be done by the end of the year.

“That’s a good thing but I don’t want to expect,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez said that his usual travel time to school from his house in Barangay Bulacao, Cebu City, just takes 30 minutes. But because of the construction of the underpass, it now takes him an hour. — Shainna Marie O. Edullantes, CNU intern (FREEMAN)