Vice Guv worried on completion of CICC

Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez is now worried over the completion of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC), which hosts the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in December.

Sanchez yesterday expressed doubts on having the CICC rise in time for the summit, citing government bureaucracy that ties down some construction works.

He said the two-week period for the erection of structural steels of the project is the most crucial factor in deciding whether they should seek exemption on pertinent procurement rules from the Commission on Audit.

With barely four months more to go before the CICC's completion by the first week of November, Sanchez said the contractor was set to start working on two shifts with a total 16 hours a day starting yesterday.

The vice governor called for an urgent meeting with members of the Bids and Awards Committee for Infrastructure Projects (BAC-Infra), CICC project designer Manuel Guanzon, and CICC Project Monitoring Office head Apollo Enriquez in his office yesterday afternoon over the matter. Enriquez is also the Capitol consultant on infrastructure and development.

For one, the vice governor was worried as to why there has been no single column or structural steel erected so far.

There is also the problem on having the CICC superstructure be awarded to the same contractor, WT Construction, Inc., as the law stipulates that contiguous project can only be awarded to the contractor of the substructure as long as there is no negative slippage, and that the superstructure does not exceed the contract price of the substructure.

If Capitol will comply with this rule, there is only P59 million left for the CICC superstructure contract price, according to Sanchez. Capitol set aside P100 million for the CICC substructure but WT quoted the lowest bid at P84.5 million for the first phase of the project.

Although Governor Gwendolyn Garcia is set to finish the project within the P250 million budget, Sanchez said the estimated project cost for CICC's new design is P375 million, thus there is a need to pass a supplemental budget of P120 million for it.

The procurement rules also delayed the awarding of the contracts for planning, electrical, air conditioning and plumbing, and the electrical and mechanical works have yet to be awarded, which tied down the construction works further.

WT has already reportedly spent around P150 million for both the substructure and superstructure works despite the lack of contract for the superstructure, and wanted to collect at least P50 million from its bill for the purchase of mechanical equipment, whose delivery would normally last for three months.

"This is a project that doesn't make any time extension. This is a very abnormal project in that time of completion is really critical. Every activity should be guarded," he said.

Although there has been no problem on the physical completion of the project, Sanchez said what hampers the operation are the pertinent documents that have to be accomplished so the contractor could proceed with the works.

The contractor is presently only five days ahead of work schedule, which is far from the reported two weeks to one-month timetable. - Cristina C. Birondo