GOVERNMENT and private sector have resumed construction of key infrastructure projects.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) restarted construction works on the P5.7-billion Bonifacio Global City-Ortigas Center Link road project and the P4.85-billion Estrella-Pantaleon and Binondo-Intramuros bridge projects.
This developed as San Miguel Corp. (SMC) expressed optimism the Skyway extension project will be completed as close to the original deadline of December as government gave the company the green light to resume construction.
The Inter-agency task force (IATF) under Resolution No. 34 dated May 8, 2020 gave the green light on the resumption of some construction projects but with strict compliance to DPWH guidelines on health and safety.
Construction activities have restarted at Estrella-Panteon bridge project connecting Makati City and Mandaluyong City and Binondo-Intramuros Bridge in Manila whose completion rates are at 54 percent and 32 percent, respectively.
Contractors of BGC-Ortigas Center Link road project are to follow a catchup plan to recover lost time when work was suspended on March 17, 2020 due to the enhanced community quarantine.
Contractors are ready to ramp up work to finish significant components of the Sta. Monica-Lawton Bridge by December.
Contractors took advantage of the lockdown to prepare the sites for full resumption of construction.
Meanwhile, San Miguel Infrastructure, concession holder of the Metro Manila Skyway resumes today, May 15, the construction of the Skyway extension project, which was halted by two months of community quarantine.
With its contractor returning to the job site, SMC said the development will partially mitigate delay in the delivery of the project, originally scheduled for December 2020.
The company is unable to determine yet a new completion date, given that only a limited number of workers can be deployed by contractor EEI Corp., as part of the quarantine measures identified.
i“We have been given the go-signal by government to resume work on the Skyway extension, and while we cannot yet go full blast, we may will do whatever we can to deliver this project as close as we can to the original deadline. We have to work smart, be efficient, and most of all, keep the workers safe,” said Ramon Ang, SMC president and chief operating officer.
For a one-month period, Skyway management said that it will close about 700 meters of Lane 3 of the Skyway At-Grade section northbound from the old Alabang Entry Plaza.
This is to enable workers to install scaffoldings to build the columns for Pier 34- 49.
