Former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza urged Manila Mayoral candidate and former President Joseph Estrada to push through three of his own projects which were revamped by current Mayor Alfredo Lim. According to an Inquirer News report, Atienza said he wanted to see the Pandacan oil depot relocated, and the Baywalk strip and Rizal Avenue pedestrian project rebuilt. He hoped that if Estrada wins in Manila these projects would be realized.
The oil depot has been at Pandacan even before World War II and plans for their relocation have begun to be implemented. Besides being a hazard to the health of the general public, there have been accidents to the pipeline which connect the oil depot to Batangas. The major oil companies have also started implementing plans to stop using the oil depot. Mayor Lim, however, had stopped the relocation of the depot. Lim had also stopped the operations of the Baywalk strip, which was one of Atienza’s pet tourism projects. Lim returned the Rizal Avenue pedestrian project back to a major thoroughfare due to the heavy volume of vehicular traffic in the area. The vehicles took longer to negotiate the alternate route brought about when Rizal Avenue from C.M. Recto to Carriedo was closed to traffic.
In the same venue, Atienza also disavowed any partnership with Lim as shown in posters showing the two of them together. He said that he was aligned with Estrada in the former President’s bid for the Mayor of Manila. Atienza is running as a representatives for the Buhay party list.
