Delay in Carbon ramp construction draws complaints

Ermita barangay officials and vendors have been complaining over the delay of the construction of the P135 million Carbon Market ramp.

This is because the contractor, W.T. Construction, has asked for adjustment of the project’s price, which is now being studied by the city government.

Ermita councilman Erwin Gok-ong said the vendors and residents are blaming the barangay for evicting them from the project site but construction works did not start until now.

He said the barangay, together with the city’s demolition team, has conducted the demolition four times already since Mayor Tomas Osmeña ordered to clear the area in September last year to give way to the ramp construction.

There are reports that the vendors and squatters, who lost their homes during a fire in barangay Bato, Ermita last year, have returned and rebuilt their shanties in the site.

City market administrator Racquel Arce said they are expecting the construction to start soon because the contractor has already submitted the computation of the price escalation that they have asked from the city but the city engineer’s office is still reviewing the proposal.

She said the adjusted price has to have the approval of Osmeña who said that he is amenable to a “reasonable” price escalation because the project has been delayed for a long time and the cost of construction materials and labor have already gone up.

The mayor earlier said that he expects the adjustment in the price of contract between 20 to 25 percent and he is okay with it as long as the contractor can justify it.

The city government has contracted the services of W.T. Construction in 2004 for the reconstruction of a ramp from F. Escaño Street to F. Gonzales Street with a contract price of P134,5000,000.

The civil works on the market’s reconstruction were delayed after Young Builders built a fence and refused to allow entry to the area until the city pays it an additional P6 million. 

Young Builders had been awarded the P22 million contract by the previous administration to rebuild the Unit 2 of Carbon Market, which was burned in 1998.

But when Osmeña later assumed office, he decided to have a P135 million ramp built to decongest traffic in Carbon area. — Wenna A. Berondo/LPM