Monday, August 04, 2008 South tunnel ‘still on track’ By Linette C. Ramos Sun.Star Staff Reporter
DESPITE minor delays, project managers hope to finish the P1.2-billion tunnel at the Cebu South Coastal Road Project (CSCRP) by July next year, but a three-month allowance for the actual completion has been set.
The tunnel was supposed to be 50 percent done as of June 25, 2008, but the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported an actual accomplishment rate of only 40.49 percent.
Engineer Nonito Labrador of the CSCRP project monitoring office of the DPWH said they are optimistic they can meet the June 26, 2009 contract expiry date.
“There is a minor delay but we are aiming to finish it in July, which is the original target date of completion, although the tentative schedule for actual completion was set in November,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
Once completed, the facility is seen to ease traffic in Cebu City.
Labrador said that the increase in prices of construction materials has not affected the project yet, and they have not received any request for variation orders from the contractor, Kajima Construction.
The project, also known as the segment 3B-2 subway or tunnel section, is the only remaining unfinished component of the CSCRP.
Segment 3B-2 has a contract amount of P1,264,367,691.31 and is funded by the National Government’s 20,000-yen loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
The four-lane tunnel, which connects the viaduct before the South Road Properties (SRP) to Sergio Osmeña Blvd., lies underneath the Plaza Independencia, which sprawls beside the Malacañang sa Sugbo.
It will stretch 0.97 kilometers long, consisting of a 610-meter twin box tunnel and a 360-meter reinforced concrete retaining structure.
The project was expected to be finished by 2008 but because the start of the project was delayed by four months because of the Association of Southeast Nations (Asean) summit, the date of completion was moved to July 2009.
City Planning and Development Coordinator Paul Villarete, also the former head of the SRP monitoring office, said that any increase in the prices of construction materials will not be a reason for any delay in the project.
“The contractor can ask for a variation order under the escalation clause of the contract, anyway it’s a legitimate increase in the project cost,” he said.
In their monthly progress report for June, DPWH reported that among the problems they encountered are PLDT posts that hamper some installation works in the construction site.
They are still waiting for the utility company to remove the posts.
Also causing a minor delay is the impending demolition of the Presidential Security Group barracks at the Malacañang sa Sugbo.
