DepEd to hold another bidding for 10,000 classrooms

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) will hold another public bidding for the construction of the second batch of 10,000 classrooms to be funded under the government’s public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro is confident that the second PPP School Infrastructure Program (PSIP) bidding process and the signing of build-lease transfer agreement with the winning groups could push through and be completed before yearend.

The program aims to build 10,000 classrooms in the Visayas and Mindanao, and in Region IV-B or Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan), and Albay province.

The PSIP is DepEd’s aggressive move in tapping the PPP scheme to build up to 40,000 classrooms within two to three years. The program is expected to totally eradicate the problem on classroom shortage in public schools before the term of President Aquino ends in 2016.

The PSIP is DepEd’s first PPP project for educational infrastructure, which will be awarded through a competitive public bidding in accordance with the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law or Republic Act 6957, as amended by RA 7718.

DepEd officially became the first agency to realize an ambitious PPP proposal for a concrete infrastructure project when it signed a build-lease transfer (BLT) agreement with two consortia that would build 9,300 classrooms for public schools.

Last Monday, Luistro signed the BLT agreements with the BF Corp.-Riverbanks Development Corp. joint venture, and the Citicore Investment Holdings-Megawide Construction Corp. in a ceremony held at DepEd’s Bulwagan ng Karunungan in Pasig City.

“We expect the earliest construction works to start by November because they still have to secure building permits prior to actual construction,” Luistro said.

“Technically, Day 1 of the construction period starts today or upon contract signing. They have 16 months from today to complete all 9,301 classrooms,” Luistro said.

The two consortia were the winning bidders for DepEd’s first batch of PSIP.

PSIP Contract Package A for design, construction and maintenance of 2,157 classrooms in Region I was awarded to BF Corp. and Riverbanks Development Corp. consortium.

Meanwhile, PSIP Contract Packages B and C for the design, construction and maintenance of 2,885 classrooms and 4,259 classrooms in Regions III and IV-A, respectively, were awarded to Citicore Investment Holdings, Inc. and Megawide Construction Corp., Inc. consortium.

Upon completion and turnover of 9,301 classrooms (with toilets, furniture and fixtures), the winning consortia shall lease these facilities to DepEd for a period of 10 years.

DepEd has secured a multi-year obligational authority from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to cover its annual lease payments, amounting to P1.628 billion for the next 10 years.

Under the PSIP, DepEd will provide the private sector the opportunity to invest in the design and construction of classrooms using its resources and technology consistent with the generic performance requirements set by DepEd.

“The classrooms we build should be a testament and a reality that in the Philippines, we can build classroom buildings without corruption,” Luistro said.