Dangling wires cause mayor to close new Mandaue skywalk

The skywalk along DM Cortes Street will be temporarily closed due to the dangling wires posing danger to passing pedestrians. .(CDN PHOTO/FERDINAND EDRALIN)

OUTGOING Mayor Jonas Cortes yesterday ordered the closure of the skywalk along DM Cortes Street in Mandaue City after he received reports of dangling wires of utility companies hanging dangerously close to pedestrians.

According to the reports, pedestrians will have to duck to avoid the dangling wires in passing the skywalk.

The skywalk is a project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 since it is located along a national road, said Mandaue City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) head Architect Florentino Nimor Jr. It was opened to the public just this week.

Lawyer Jamaal James Calipayan, Mayor Cortes’s executive secretary, said that city also wanted the skywalk for the street since it is located near the Mandaue City National Comprehensive High School.

Calipayan said that the city was informed about the project, but they do not have any knowledge that the skywalk will be blocked by wires. “Duha ka campuses sa Comprehensive ang naa diha, and that’s the biggest high school in Mandaue. And it was also very important nga atong ma-provided og safe nga tabukanan ang mga estudyante that’s why we supported the project,” he said

Calipayan said that they will write a letter to the DPWH and utility companies to address the problem.

Lawyer Jill Verallo, Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) reputation management manager, said that the wires are from Veco, but they’re a neutral line and there is no electricity coming from them.

“Amo na gipatrabaho. Bisan wala siyay linya sa kuryente, naa gihapon siyay danger sa mangagi. So we decided tanggalon siya sa skywalk para ma-stay out of the public,” Verallo said.

But she said that they cannot immediately cut out the wires because it will  cause outage in the city.

Verallo said although the dangling wires are not live, posts where these wires are connected have live wires, and the electricity passing through them have to be stopped so that they can work on cutting the dangling wires.

She also said that they were not informed by the DPWH of the construction of the skywalk.

But Renault Ricardo, assistant engineer of DPWH sixth district, said that two months before they worked on the project, they had sent letters to the utility companies about the wires. But they took a long time to respond to those letters.

Ricardo said that they will close the skywalk since it has not yet been turned over by the contractor and they will open it again when the problem will be addressed.