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By LITO RULONA
Correspondent .

THE Limketkai group has offered to undertake a part of a major drainage system project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Lapasan provided that it would be paid by the government.

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But the DPWH rejected the offer, pointing out that the project was already awarded to a contractor.

Aside from that, neither the Limketkai group nor the construction company it contracted are DPWH-accredited, said DPWH project engineer Leowald Pecore.

This was disclosed by Councilor Teodulfo Lao Jr. following the meeting of the city council’s public utilities meeting on Tuesday even as he pointed that that DPWH and the Limketkai group have no formal agreement pertaining to the drainage construction project that, based on the government’s plan, would cut across the Limketkai center.

The absence of an agreement is one of the reasons for the delay of the construction, according to Lao.

Lao said a Limketkai group representative told the committee that the firm could construct that section of the drainage system project if DPWH agrees to pay the company.

So far, nothing has been done but fence the project area. “Ang nakadaut ani kay wala pa gyud sila’y agreement nga napirmahan nga mag-sugod na ang DPWH pero igo ra man gi-koral. Ingon ang taga-’Ketkai nga sila na lamang daw ang mag-human sa drainage project, and then demanded for payment pagka-human,” Lao said.

The Limketkai section of the project would require the upgrading of a box culvert similar to what the DPWH constructed along Arcadia Valenzuela Ave. near Bitan-ag Creek. Once done, the two drainage sections would then be linked.

Lao said the delay prompted the Limketkai group to offer to undertake the construction and then connect it to the Agora section of the drainage system.

Lao said he understood why the Limketkai group made the offer: the firm has been incurring losses as a result of the flooding problem in the area, and the DPWH project has been delayed.

Lao said the Limketkai group also complained because of revisions in the DPWH plan. He said the project would have been completed last year had it been carried out as planned.

“Karon, mangayo pa sila og another funding to complete the project,” Lao said.

During a previous meeting, Lao said, the DPWH said the drainage system would be completed by 2022. By that year, he said, the DPWH also plans to install of booster pump along the Macajalar Bay so that sewage water from the area could be drained out even during high tide.

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