By Roderick T. dela Cruz

The National Competitiveness Council has criticized a Metro Manila mayor for showing an example of how to derail a key infrastructure project.

Short of naming the official, Ambassador Cesar Bautista, co-chairman of the council, said the executive refused to issue a construction permit to the 5.8-kilometer linkup of Metro Rail Transit and Light Rail Transit Lines unless a station was added for the benefit of a barangay where he enjoyed patronage.

Residents of Caloocan City, instigated by barangay officials, staged a rally along Edsa late last year, calling for an intermediate LRT stop in Bagong Barrio, as part of the P6.4-billion LRT North Extension project.

The interconnection will complete the mass transport loop by extending LRT Line 1 from Monumento, Caloocan to North Avenue in Quezon City.

Caloocan Mayor Enrico Echiverri issued a press statement last year, calling on barangay officials, businessmen and residents to petition the government to build the Bagong Barrio station, which he said would serve 500,000 daily commuters.

?We need a station in Caloocan and we need it on Edsa corner Malvar Street in Bagong Barrio,? Echiverri said in the statement.

The competitiveness council expressed shock over the demand, which it reckoned would cost the government an added P800 million, representing 20 percent of the project cost.

?He claims that he is imposing this demand to benefit the poor people in the barangay. Either the authorities give him the additional station or this important project will be delayed and will not be operational even in 2010,? Bautista fumed.

?How can a mayor hold the nation and Metro Manila hostage to ransom? The public is certainly behind the President and the Light Rail Transit Authority on this one.?

The competitiveness council is identifying model local government units that contribute to national and economic development.

Bautista cited Bohol for using eco-tourism in transforming its economy from one of the poorest provinces to one of the most progessive today, growing by at least 7 percent annually.