Sunday, April 22, 2007 Expressway contractor can meet August deadline: agency By Albert B. Lacanlale
* Sectors eagerly awaiting completion of modern road
* Early completion a whiff of fresh air
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Hazama-Taisei-Nippon Steel Joint Venture (HTN-JV), one of the Japanese contractors for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) Project, will be able to meet its project completion deadline in August this year.
This was according to Narciso Abaya, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), to ease out concerns over the timely completion of the multi-billion-peso toll road project.
In a press statement issued early this week, Abaya said the assurance was made by HTN-JV executives Tetsuro Marui, Tokyo-based general manager for International Division of Hazama; Kunio Kimata, HTN project manager; and Makoto Yoshida, HTN general manager during the contractors courtesy call to BCDA on April 13.
This assurance, Abaya said, supersedes HTN-JVs March 29 letter, which also requests an extension in the completion deadline.
The assurance of the top executives of the Japanese contractor building the expressway from Clark to Tarlac, Abaya said, came as a whiff of fresh air for members of sectors who are eagerly waiting for the operation of the modern expressway.
"Our people have been expecting the expressway from Clark-to-Tarlac to open before Christmas, and we are happy to announce that the Japanese contractor tasked to complete the project said it can meet its deadline, four months before Christmas," Abaya said.
Abaya has a reason to refer to the assurance as a respite --- coming at a time when the other Japanese contractor handling Package 1 Kajima-Obayashi-JFE Engineering-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Joint Venture (KOJM-JV), had requested an extension of its project completion deadline for another 300 days. Package 1 spans from Subic to Clark.
Issues on whether the Japanese contractors of the two packages Package 1 (Subic-Clark) and Package 2 (Clark-Tarlac) will be able to meet their respective deadlines of completion had been in the news lately, fanning issues on the ability of the contractors to finish the project on time.
Both contractors earlier signed an agreement with BCDA fully aware of all the factors they would deal with in road construction, and they are expected to honor their respective covenants with us, Abaya said.
Abaya also commended the leaders of the HTN-JV consortium for their single-minded dedication to complete the job, after taking stock of issues and constraints that ordinarily are part of everyday challenges in the construction business.
The HTN-JV consortium, with its expressed confidence that it will beat the construction deadline, is convincing proof that, with enough political will and managerial resolve, any contractor worth his salt can deliver on its promise, Abaya said in the statement.
