Repair of track oval delayed

CEBU, Philippines -  The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) for infrastructure projects has issued a disqualification notice to the lowest bidder of the P27-million rehabilitation project for the Cebu City Sports Center Rubberized Track Oval.

The disqualification means a delay of the project while the City Government hopes the rehabilitation will start by the end of May.

BAC member and City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete said they sent the disqualification notice to the Cebu 7H Technochem Industries Inc. after post qualification revealed that they lack the required experience.

Poblete said according to the rules, the bidding company must have undertaken over the last ten years a project that is worth at least 50 percent of the cost of the project being bid out.

The special technical working group which conducted the post qualification found that Cebu 7H’s latest projects were not over P13 million in the last 10 years. It had undertaken a similar project in Danao but it was more than 10 years ago.

Also, the TWG has some minor issues in the projects contracted by the company with other institutions which the TWG inspected during the post qualification.

Poblete said that Cebu 7H received the notice last Monday and they are given seven days from receipt to file a motion for reconsideration.

The contractor will be given the opportunity to contest the decision and findings of the BAC.

If Cebu 7H will not contest the BAC decision, the TWG may proceed in the post qualification of the second bidder.

There were only two contractors that participated in the bidding. Their bids only had a difference of about P300,000. The project cost as seen in the Program of Works and Estimates is P27,417,844.

“Hopefully, we will be able to resolve this immediately so we can proceed to the next step. The disqualification has caused us delays but hopefully, we can start by the end of May,” Poblete said.

He said they are being careful in choosing the contractor because the rehabilitation of the oval is a special project undertaken only every after around 20 years.

The track oval is almost 20 years old. It was established in the 1990s. In 2009, the City Government appropriated some P40 million for its rehabilitation. (FREEMAN)