Contractor woes delay underpass, road widening projects: DPWH

THE underpass and road widening projects at United Nations Ave. in Mandaue City are about 10 percent complete a year after the “build stage” began, a DPWH 7 official said.

The process of terminating the projects’ contract that was awarded to Leyte-based BM Marketing has contributed to the projects’ delay, according to Department of Public Works and Highways 7 Director Edgar Tabacon.

However, Tabacon said the contract is still in effect because the contract has yet to be rescinded, and BM Marketing took the matter to court.

The DPWH central office made the move to cancel the contract after it discovered the contractor’s alleged falsification of its track record.

BM Marketing reportedly claimed that it was involved in completing a large private road project in Eastern Visayas. The DPWH could not find the road.

The P711.8-million underpass and road widening projects are expected to be completed on Aug. 24, 2020, or 990 calendar days. The contract was awarded in December 2017.

The first phase of the build stage was road widening that started on July 23, 2018, and it is about 90 percent incomplete.

Tabacon said his office has to deal with the problem on acquiring road right of way.

A letter was sent by the DPWH 7 to BM Marketing, telling the latter about the central office’s order to blacklist it and terminate its contract with the agency.

BM Marketing resorted to filing a petition for injunction in a Mindoro court. It questioned the termination notice because the DPWH failed to send a report that verifies its allegation against the firm.

Despite the legal action taken by the contractor, Tabacon said he was advised by the DPWH central office to conduct an investigation and comply with the termination procedure under Republic Act 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

“Our legal office here has conducted (an investigation), and it is still ongoing. They (investigators) went already to the site where the alleged project was situated in Region 8 and they did not see the project,” he said.

After the DPWH’s legal office conducted the inspection, the contractor reportedly called the investigators.

“They said that they will accompany the investigators to the (project) site. They still have to go there again and conduct an ocular inspection,” Tabacon said.

Tabacon said the DPWH 7 would give the contract to the second lowest bidder (WT Construction) if the contract with BM Marketing is already terminated.

However, Tabacon said the problem with this is that bidding had been done two years ago, and the prices of construction materials may have changed already.

Another thing to be considered is that the bid was “design and build.” The bid proposal of the second lowest bidder could be different from BM Marketing’s proposal.

Aside from these issues, the DPWH 7 is also facing difficulties in acquiring right of way.

The DPWH 7 has filed expropriation cases for the lots affected by the project, particularly the site near a mall. However, the Office of the Solicitor General did not take action because some lots lack ownership titles.

Tabacon said the completion date of the underpass and road widening projects could be changed.

“It’s so difficult to give a timeline to expropriation cases. That’s our predicament,” he said. WBS