Thursday, June 28, 2007 Capitol admits CICC cost may reach P800M
THE Capitol is admitting that expenses for the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) may reach P793 million, calling it the “worst-case scenario” for the project.
However, they said this amount would be arrived at only if they consider the entire P211.9-million final billing by WT, which has yet to be paid. They also stressed the claimed items of work are still being verified.
Capitol consultant on information Rory Jon Sepulveda said the amount is “hypothetical,” and would only be true if the Project Monitoring Office will recommend the approval of all items.
But Sepulveda added that the Capitol’s engineering office found some double costing in the claimed items of work.
As of May 3, the Capitol already paid P581,273,727 for the construction of the CICC, which was completed in time for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and East Asia summits last January.
The total allocation for the project was only P637 million.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia earlier made the “theoretical” statement of the worst-case scenario, to show that even if the Capitol will end up spending that much amount, it would still be below industry standard costs and would be lower than the cost of building other convention centers in the Philippines.
Question
She said that based on the Construction Cost Handbook Philippines 2006, a structure such as the CICC would cost from P1,004,398,400 to P1,170,198,550.
Also, she showed that in contrast to the P6-billion South Road Properties (SRP) that is costing the Cebu City Government P1 million a day for loan interests alone, the Province already earned P3.2 million from the CICC.
She said she is challenging the media to highlight the City’s ballooning debt for the SRP as much as it features the expenses for the CICC.
“Until now, wa pa mahibaw-i kon naa bay nibalik nga kita from that project (it isn’t known if that project has made money). That is a valid question and a valid answer must be given,” she said.
Speaking before the Association of Barangay Councils yesterday, Garcia also said, “Mabayran ang CICC nga way bisan usa ka daku nga utang. (We can pay for the CICC without having to borrow a single cent.) I can assure you that this number one province in the country will remain debt-free, zero-debt unlike Cebu City.”
Bottom line
With a total floor area of 25,691.45 square meters, the cost per square meter for the CICC—in case the total cost would reach P793,192,776—would be P30,873 per square meter.
Garcia said this is within industry standards of P26,900 to P33,150 per square meter for standard office buildings.
Lawyer Victor Maam-bong, Provincial Board (PB) chairman for the committee on budget and appropriations, said the PB is allowed to pass supplemental allocations to meet valid claims of work.
“That can be done, but we do not know yet if the amount we appropriated was already exhausted or depleted. We are still awaiting the official report because they are still checking the veracity of the claims,” said Maambong.
Since appropriating more to pay for work done for the project is allowed, Maambong said the “bottom line question” that remains is whether the expenses were “reasonable.”
For this, the Provincial Board can have a say on the matter because members could always refuse to authorize any more appropriations for additional expenses, he said.
Standards
He further pointed out that with the system of post-audit in government, the multi-million transaction will be reviewed by the Commission on Audit.
“But I am confident that this is within the standards,” said Maambong.
Last May 11, businessman Crisologo Saavedra filed a supplemental motion to his plunder complaint against Capitol officials, asking the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas for a freeze-payment order against WT’s final bill.
The billing statement was for electrical and plumbing works, as well as site development and structural, civil and architectural works. (JPM)
