Rail loop stalling blamed on Fernando

THE Light Rail Transit Authority is taking to task Chairman Bayani Fernando of the Metro Manila Development Authority for delaying the P6.4-billion billion government-financed project to connect the Metro Rail Transit on Edsa and the Light Rail Transit Line 1.

LRTA Administrator Mel Robles said the MMDA was yet to issue permits to contractor DMCI-First Balfour, including approvals for changes in the infrastructure.

“The delay is not of our making. It’s actually the MMDA and Chairman Bayani Fernando who are holding up the construction,” he told reporters.

i wonder why is he delaying this project?

“We have already broken ground for the construction work last June. But the MMDA has failed to issue excavation permits because of some issues it raised about the railway construction design.”

The project will add 5.4 kilometers to the MRT line from its North Avenue station in Quezon City to link up with the LRT Line 1 terminal in Monumento, Caloocan City.

Robles said Fernando wanted the height clearance of the elevated railway section changed from the planned 5 meters to 14.7 meters.

ano ba pake ni BF dito? hindi naman siya civil engeer (mechanical engineer po siya).

5 meters = 16.4041 feet

14.7 meters = 48.2283 feet

Such a major change would set back construction by about six months at the cost of P1.2 billion.

need i say more

“That is a big problem. We can’t make any changes to the design just like that. First, because the design we will be following was the approved design by all the government agencies such as the Neda [National Economic Development Authority] and the DoTC [Department of Transportation and Communications] after so many studies.”

eto na naman ang magaling na mechanical engineer na pumapapel sa isang project na pang civil engineer. remember the C5 elevated u-turn (or what my civil engineer friend calls..."the monument to Bayani Fernando's stupidity")

http://mgasidecommentsko.blogspot.com/search/label/C5

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=police2_oct16_2008

By Florante S. Solmerin