Contractor claims CCMC works ahead of schedule

CEBU, Philippines - The contractor of the new Cebu City Medical Center has claimed that they are six percent ahead of schedule.

Engineer Glenn Domanais, operations manager of C.E. Padilla Construction Inc., said they are now 30.15 percent into the first phase of the 10-storey hospital building project, which is scheduled to be completed in April 2017.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama yesterday led city officials in the pouring of concrete for the upper floors of the new city hospital. It was one of activities of the city to celebrate its 79th Charter Day Anniversary.

Rama said the activity proved his critics wrong that he would not be able to rebuild the CCMC building which he ordered demolished after it was declared unsafe for occupancy following the magnitude 7.1 earthquake in 2013.

He said the reconstruction was made possible because of those who “believed” and supported him, stressing the value of unity and faith among those who worked hard to realize the “new people’s hospital.”

According to Rama, the new hospital building will not only be “globally-competitive” but disaster-resi-lient as well. It could withstand strong earthquakes like the one that hit Visayas three years ago.

He said the new CCMC will not only serve the residents of Cebu City but the neighboring towns and cities as well.

 “(We should) do our share for the least of our brothers… This is the hospital that we should fight for…  Let’s not fail the poor,” he said before the crowd consisting of barangay and city officials.

A four-storey skeletal building is now visible at the area where the old CCMC building used to stand. It provides the structural framework of the new building, which Rama tou-ted as “People’s Hospital”.

The reconstruction of the CCMC building started last October 28 on the occasion of the mayor’s birthday. It started off with the pile driving works or footing wherein around 800 piles or cemented posts were installed underground to make the foundation more stable.

The building plan was divided into four areas which was the construction methodology adopted by the project team to conform the “seismic gaps.” With this strategy, each building can stand alone in case there will be ground movements.

The first area, where the four-storey skeletal structure already stands, covers about 700 square meters. — (FREEMAN)