BAGUIO CITY – Top public works officials will no longer wait for President Macapagal-Arroyo to open the city’s controversial flyover, whose construction she once tried to stop.

The flyover “will open to all types of vehicles 14 days after Tuesday (Jan. 14),” which is Jan. 28, according to Public Works Undersecretary Ramon Aquino. It needed “further curing” over two weeks, he said.

Ms Arroyo’s schedule was no longer “an issue,” Aquino told the Inquirer on Friday, when he supervised a “final inspection” of the flyover together with the quality assessment team of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

This is the stage of government procedures when state engineers assess whether the contractor has done its job properly, he said.

“[The] flyover is passable, that is true; but only to light vehicles. [DPWH Cordillera engineers and the contractor] would have wanted it open to small vehicles but we did not want to be selective about its use, so we will wait for 14 days [from Tuesday] and then it will open [even to buses],” Aquino said.

Officials of the DPWH Cordillera rushed the completion of the P179-million flyover after years of delay, but they would not order its opening, saying they preferred to have Ms Arroyo be the first motorist to drive through the 278-meter span.

The Office of the President, however, had not included the flyover’s ceremonial opening in Ms Arroyo’s itinerary for January and February.

Ms Arroyo earlier ordered the transfer of funds meant for the flyover, in the light of objections raised by two former mayors. The flyover was programmed using only the P44 million savings from the modernization of Marcos Highway.

But in 2006, Ms Arroyo told reporters that she was prevailed upon to retract her directive because it would entail legal wrangling to realign funds obtained through a loan.