ON ASPHALT-OVERLAY PROJECTS

Lim-JdV feud heats up

THE Department of Public Works and Highways district office belied charges of the Dagupan City government that it did not coordinate with the latter before implementing P29 million worth of asphalt overlay projects in the city.

Second Highway District Engineer Rodolfo Dion showed two letters that his office sent to Mayor Benjamin Lim, dated April 4, 2006 and May 11, 2006, which were duly received by the latter’s office.

In his April 11, 2006 letter, Dion informed the city government of receipt of a sub-allotment advice dated March 17, 2006 released by the Department of Public Works and Highways under a Special Allotment Request Order dated Feb. 16, 2006 in the amount ofP29,625,000.

He indicated that it was for the repair/maintenance of national roads called preventive maintenance on the asphalt overlay of carriageways and road shoulders of the Lucao-Tapuac section, Mayombo section and Tambac-Bolosan section of the national highways.

In that letter, Dion stated that the pre-construction activities of these projects were already in progress and went on to ask the mayor to assign a representative from the City Engineer’s Office to monitor the implementation to ensure the quality of the projects.

In the May 11, 2006 letter signed by Asst. District Engineer Renato Utanes, it informed Mayor Lim that the projects had been bided and the notice to commence work had been issued to winning contractors.

Under the program, the DPWH central office (Highway Development Management Force) makes an inventory of national roads and highways that need repair and maintenance.

The process makes use of a machine to measure the roughness of the existing pavement. Asphalt-laying is made to preserve the stability and improve the riding surface of the concrete pavements, Dion said.

However, City Administrator Baraan, in a talk over a local radio station, maintained the DPWH did not coordinate the three asphalt overlay projects with them.

He even described the three projects as sheer waste of money because the DPWH was putting up asphalt overlay on the concrete pavements which are still in a very good condition.

Baraan said that the DPWH should know that that asphalt pavement cannot last during the rainy season, especially when the same is submerged in floodwaters.

Baraan said high on the priority of the city is the construction of drainage system along the national highways, particularly in the downtown area where flash floods usually occur during heavy rains.

Mayor Benjamin Lim already wrote Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane seeking realignment of the funding of the three projects for the more urgent projects sought by him in his letter to Ebdane in October last year.

Lim in another radio interview said the projects are not priorities of the city and that no proper coordination was made.

However, of the three projects, the asphalt overlay of the Tambac-Bolosan section has already been completed.

DPWH Regional Director Fidel Ginez affirmed that all these road maintenance projects were funded by DPWH and not from the Countrywide Development Fund of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., as earlier alleged.

He told newsmen by phone, calling from Clark where he was attending a seminar, that Speaker de Venecia had nothing to do with the projects.

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