Bello inclined to allow construction activity at Skyway extension project accident site

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Thursday he might lift the order that stopped the construction activity in an area of the Skyway Extension Project where an accident took place last weekend.

Speaking at the Laging Handa briefing, Bello said he was inclined to approve the recommendation of the Department of Labor and Employment-National Capital Region to lift the work stoppage order against the contractor EEI Corporation.

Bello earlier reversed the decision of the DOLE-NCR to stop the construction activity in the entire Sucat Alabang Viaduct section of the Skyway Extension Project, taking into consideration the project's “utmost national importance.”

“Equally acknowledged is the fact that the suspension of said project in the unaffected areas will cause prejudice to the employees assigned/deployed thereat whose livelihood heavily depends on the said project’s continued operation,” the Labor chief’s order dated November 24 stated.

Last Saturday, one person died and four others were hurt after a steel girder from the ongoing project fell on six vehicles in Muntinlupa City. The accident occurred on East Service Road.

The incident pushed back the completion of the project to February 2021.

The Skyway Extension Project was initially scheduled to be completed by December this year, adding two northbound lanes and three southbound lanes.

It will have a direct connection to Skyway 1, 2, and 3, and allow motorists from the south to head to Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Makati, Manila, San Juan, Quezon City, and the North Luzon Expressway without having to pass by Alabang and EDSA. —KBK, GMA News