City reviews P232 million contract: Trucks bought by previous admin overpriced?

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City government is reviewing a P232 million contract for 21 compactor trucks following initial examination that indicated the trucks are overpriced.

“Probably overpriced daw by P1 point something per unit so under review pa ang 21 garbage trucks,” said Atty. June Maratas, head of the city’s Department of General Services.

He said they are gathering documents pertaining to the contract the city entered into with Hino Motors that won the bidding several months ago.

The city bought the trucks for garbage collection.

Hino Motors had a bid of P4 million for each truck, way lower than the allocated price of P12 million.

Maratas said the P12 million approved budget for the contract or the allocated price for each compactor truck appears to be overpriced.

Hino Motors was supposed to deliver the 21 compactor trucks within 60 to 90 days after the issuance of notice of award.

The city has yet to form a new Bids and Awards Committee.

The FREEMAN tried to reach Ronald Malacora, the head of the previous committee, for comment to no avail.

In an earlier interview, though, Malacora said the city’s technical working group reviewed Hino Motors’ technical, legal, and financial capacity and the firm reportedly met the qualifications.

The previous administration headed by Mayor Tomas Osmeña had been vocal against cheap vehicles, particularly those made in China, pointing out issues of durability.

“We will retrieve the records sa purchase sa compactor trucks para, as soon as next week, maka-decide na ang city whether rebid, cancelation of contract, or padayon na,” Maratas said.

He said the 21 compactor trucks would have already helped address the garbage problem, especially that the city and ARN Central Waste Management, Inc. have agreed to cancel a deal for garbage disposal.

For now, the city is using its buses to collect garbage from main roads while barangays will collect garbage from interior portions of their jurisdiction.

Aside from the garbage trucks contract, Maratas said DGS is also reviewing a P152 million contract for the purchase of 19 big buses and another contract amounting to P66 million for the purchase of 22 minibuses at P3 million each. —  JMO (FREEMAN)