MORE than P360 million worth of infrastructure projects in Cebu City, consisting mostly of roads, school building and drainage projects were either terminated or suspended due to lacking requirements and failure of the contractors to work on them on time.
According to the status report of the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW), 18 projects worth P243 million were suspended and 15 other projects worth P119 million were terminated as of March this year.
One of the big-ticket projects that was terminated is the reconstruction of the Unit II of the Carbon Public Market.
The project has an approved budget of P167 million but the City issued an order to terminate the project in 2016 yet after the contractor failed to complete the project on time.
Engr. Nilo Igot, the assistant city engineer, said the decision whether or not the reconstruction of Unit II will push through would be up to Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
The contracts of several road concreting with drainage system in some barangays amounting to P72.6 million were also terminated due to the delays in the civil works.
Although the construction of drainage systems is part of the flood control program of the City, Igot said the termination of the contracts for some drainage works is a better option than to wait for the contractor to complete the project.
“For some of these projects, the contract time has already expired. We don’t want to just sit and wait. We have to terminate the contract to allow us to re-bid the project,” he said.
The DEPW also suspended the civil works of some infrastructure projects worth P119 million due to lack of necessary permits.
These include the construction of 16 classrooms in Zapatera Elementary School, Sapangdaku Elementary School, Pardo Elementary School extension and the construction of 12 classrooms in Mambaling Elementary School.
Once all the necessary permits are secured, Igot said that work on these projects will resume.