Contractor ordered to start rebuilding

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has ordered Geety Realty and Development Corporation to start rebuilding unit II Carbon Market, claiming that the project is not covered by the election ban.

Rama wants the reconstruction project to start before the May 13 mid-term elections because the vendors have already been dreaming about it for the past several years.

The old unit II Carbon Market was razed by fire in 1998 yet but until now the city government failed to restore it prompting hundreds of vendors to occupy the road and build shanties along M.C. Briones Street.

During the last few months of then Mayor Alvin Garcia’s term in 2001, the city government signed a P140-million contract with Young Builders Corporation for the reconstruction project but Garcia lost in the elections to then mayor Tomas Osmeña.

The project did not push through because Osmeña refused to implement it when he assumed office in July 1, 2001 because he wanted to change the design of the market building.

Osmeña wanted a building that is designed to accommodate parking on the rooftop to decongest the Carbon area from vehicles parked on the roadside.

Young Builders Corporation filed a case against the city for breach of contract and demanded payment of its initial expenses. The city had already paid about P30 million to Young Builders.

During Rama’s administration, the Young Builders has been allowed to pursue the project, but still the YBC failed to implement despite the lapse of several months prompting Rama to revoke the contract and award it to Geety Realty Construction.  (FREEMAN)