According to a report in this newspaper, the Cebu City Government is set to bid out the construction of the remaining floors of the Cebu City Medical Center before the year ends.
This as opposed to engaging in a Private-Public-Partnership for the remaining floors, as such a process will cause further delays.
“I am open to a possibility of a PPP. However, it is highly impractical because the whole PPP process will already take a year… Atong pahuwaton atong mga kaigsuonan nga one year after pa magsugod ang construction? Di ko mosugot sad ana,” Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia was quoted as saying.
Yes, whatever it takes to finally finish that building once and for all.
It’s becoming, quite frankly, a source of shame. How is one of the most premier cities in the country and one of the most powerful centers of influence in the nation failing to finish this structure after so many years already?
Of course, not having a complete building is sure to impede in some way the service to patients who are brought there for treatment, not to mention the daily operations of the hospital itself.
We don’t even have to mention that a stretch of Panganiban Street has become a permanent construction site or staging area for materials needed to construct those unfinished floors and only half of this crucial stretch is being utilized.
We say crucial stretch because the full opening of this street will do wonders for traffic along N. Bacalso Street, considering that more vehicles from the south can just turn right and avoid the ongoing construction of the Bus Rapid Transit station just further up the street.
We understand that structures aren’t finished overnight, but it shouldn’t have taken too long for such a building to be finished. It’s high time to finish the CCMC.