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Thursday, April 26, 2007
Construction of Subic-Clark road incurs delay
By Albert B. Lacanlale
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Malacañang has directed the Japanese contractors of the P21-billion Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) to speed up work on the project and finish it on schedule.
The directive was issued during a high-level meeting at the Palace attended by representatives from the state-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and Japanese contractors Kajima-Obayashi-JFE Engineering-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (KOJM) and Hazama-Taisei-Nippon Steel (HTN).
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Presidential Management Staff (PMS) Chief Cerge Remonde, Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, and Subic-Clark Alliance Development Council (SCADC) Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan represented government.
The Palace officials reminded KOJM and HTN that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants the expressway completed on time.
Remonde stressed that the "target dates should not be tied up with the reasons for the delay" in construction.
Retired Major General Eduardo Lena, expressway program manager for engineering and construction, reported that as of April 18, KOJM already incurred a delay of 13.48 percent in construction. KOJM is building Package 1 or the Subic-Clark portion of the highway.
HTN, which is in charge of Package 2, is delayed by 4.4 percent.
Under government's contract with both contractors, a delay of 15 percent could be ground for termination.
KOJM, the bases agency said, recently admitted having incurred a number of lapses that caused the delay.
Among the reasons cited by KOJM officials were the delayed start of construction, poor performance of local subcontractors and key personnel, slow progress of civil works including drainage and slope protection, and lack of planning.
BCDA executives cited the KOJM leaders for their candidness, but Malacañang officials rejected the consortium's other reasons--VAT issue and slow payment--for the delay.
They pointed out that HTN does not have these problems and is showing better performance.
The panel agreed that most of the issues raised by KOJM have been settled, so there was no more major reason to for any further delay in the construction of the 94-kilometer, four-lane expressway.
The road is one of the Arroyo administration's flagship projects and is deemed as a linchpin to the accelerated growth of the Central and Northern Luzon regions.
Lena pointed out that only two percent of the right-of-way issues pointed to by KOJM as the principal obstruction to its job needed to be resolved.
He also noted that "given a good catch-up plan, there is still adequate time to put Package 1 back in midstream."
The BCDA maintained, however, that the ROW issues were minor problems that could not significantly derail construction of the 94-kilometer, four-lane highway.
The project engineer of the expressway rejected earlier a bid by KOJM for a one-year extension of its construction deadline.
HTN, the contractor of Package 2, assured BCDA that it could deliver the project in August. So far, Package 2 is already 81.44 percent complete, and has only a minor delay in construction of 4.4 percent. (Sun.Star Pampanga/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (April 26, 2007 issue)
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