ILIGAN City ― The market at Palao constructed by this present administration will not be finished this year.
This was the gist of the statement of Engr. Teodoro Gayo, Jr. to reporters yesterday, according to his analysis after the city government had declared that it had moved the schedule of completion of the said market at Palao from December 31, 2021, to March 2022.
To note, the city government under city mayor Celso G. Regencia told residents earlier in 2021 that the market would be finished by December 31, 2021. This was started in February of 2020 by its contractor, BM Marketing, the winning bidder of such a project.
“There’s a lot to be done yet,” said Gayo, and even if we extend the new schedule from March to May, it can’t be finished by that time,” he said.
“It needs one and one-half years to finish that because per my assessment, it is only 50% complete,” he added.
Among others, he said that there is much to be tiled, the ground floor and the first floor too.
“There’s the matter of electrical connections too and the fire hydrants, and allied matters,” he explained.
To note too, persons from Cebu City by the name of Rico Chua and Eric Chua had furnished this writer and a lawyer here about the records of the contractor, whom they said had “fabricated” their financial statements and at present facing lawsuits from the courts.
“As concerned citizens residing in Cebu, it is with uneasiness to have learned that BM Marketing has reached your shores as the winning contractor for the Project INFR-19-047: Design and Construction of the New Pala-o Public Market Building, Barangay Palao, Iligan City,” Chua said in a statement.
“There is nothing wrong with a contractor not residing within (or) near the city to construct an important project as long as their track records are not fabricated else risk the lives and workers of Iligan City.”
