A TOTAL of 19 brand new big buses worth P152 million will be purchased by the Cebu City Government.
The bids and awards committee (BAC) is scheduled to hold a bidding for the purchase of the buses on Tuesday, March 5.
BAC head Ronald Malacora there are two interested bidders already that signified to join the bidding.
The buses will be used to augment the current free transportation that the city has been extending to the public, particularly to the business process outsourcing (BPO) workers.
“We will deploy that buses to transport passengers in areas where there are many passengers who are having a hard time catching a ride during peak hours,” Malacora said.
Since last year, the city has been providing free rides to the public, particularly to BPO workers for their safety considering that they work mostly during night time.
Malacora said this will be the first time that the city will purchase buses since most of its buses are donated.
At present, the city has 15 buses that are running.
“These are several years old buses already and maintenance is already high but we will still deploy these buses aside from the new ones that we are about to buy,” he said.
Meanwhile, Malacora said five interested bidders signified interest to participate during the re-bidding for the purchase of P232.5 million worth of garbage compactor trucks.
Although BAC has already recommended to award the contract to Hino Motors, but Mayor Tomas Osmeña rejected it because he wanted more suppliers to participate the bidding.
Malacora said they will conduct another bidding on March 12.
The city plans to purchase new compactor trucks to save from paying huge amount in its garbage hauling fees.