Baguio folk demand blacklist of erring asphalt contractors

BY DEXTER A. SEE

BAGUIO CITY – Various sectors and concerned citizens in this mountain resort city have demanded the immediate blacklisting of several contractors responsible for the implementation of the substandard asphalt overlay in five major roads here due to their continuous failure to restore their damaged projects which is causing inconveniences to the public.

The call for the imposition of stiff penalties against the erring contractors came after Mayor Reinaldo A. Bautista, Jr. ordered the heavy equipment and personnel of the city government to scrape the scoured asphalt overlay because he could no longer wait for the action of the contractors to at least institute mitigating measures on the damaged roads to minimize the sufferings of the public as a result of the numerous huge holes on the rods.

Bautista said the contractors of the defective projects should be responsible enough in ensuring the convenience of motorists by immediately acting on orders from concerned agencies to restore the damaged road portions.

At the same time, construction industry stakeholders supported the call for the banning of irresponsible project implementers, saying that those with poor performances in their assigned works should no longer be awarded projects since they are only after the income and not for the quality of their work.

The continuous defiance of the asphalt overlay contractors to restore their damaged projects is an affront to the authority of the implementing agency to order the replacement of the damaged projects since the damages have occurred within the one-year warranty period to restore all defects in their projects.

Motorists are now complaining that their vehicles are suffering from numerous holes along the major roads in the city, thus, they are out to spend much on maintaining their vehicles.

Concerned city government officials pointed out that the contractors of the asphalt overlay projects must reimburse the expenses of the city in the scraping of the substandard asphalt since they took on their obligation to do their work despite the projects being covered by the one-year warranty period where in the contractors will shoulder the restoration of the project in case it has been found to be defective.

The sectors called on the Department of Public Works and Highways to scrutinize the performance of contractors wanting to implement various infrastructure projects in the city so that those with luck luster works and with records of slippages in their projects in the past would no longer be awarded projects so that the public will not suffer again from defective and substandard works. – Dexter A. See