POBLETE: No overpayment for garbage trucks

CEBU, Philippines - “His being observant is worth a commendation. As to his proposal to amend the terms in the contract, there is a need to discuss the matter thoroughly,” Poblete said.

Navarro suggests that the rate for the rental of garbage trucks for the transfer station in Ina-yawan be on a per trip basis from a per day basis.

He said this after noticing that each equipment is only able to run one to two trips per day while it should be at least three trips, yet the city still pays the full amount of P3,998.37 daily rental.

Navarro said the city would be able to save on the idle times of the equipment if the city will only pay based on the number of trips made.

But Poblete said the city was given a rate that is far cheaper than the normal rate of rental imposed by suppliers.

The Association of Contractors Equipment Lessor (ACEL) told Poblete that the normal rental rate for dump trucks is P1716 per hour, for pay loader it is P4,413 per hour and for backhoe it is P3,804 per hour.

The city is only paying almost P4,000 per day or per 24 hours. Poblete said this is not at all disadvantageous to the city government.

Brand New dumptrucks for the barangays have started arriving so the city government expects that the problem at the transfer station will soon be minimized. He said that these dump trucks have less capacity that will spare these from the truck ban.

The city administrator also added that the equipment are available 24 hours so it is up to the management of the landfill how to optimize its use.

“It is given that the contract is per day. It is up for us to utilize it in the optimum manner. So nganung wala man siya ma-optimize?” Poblete said.

There are various reasons why the dump trucks could not meet the three trips per day quota, Navarro said. One of the reasons is the truck ban implemented in Mandaue City and Consolacion limiting the period of time the trucks can travel to Consolacion to dump its garbage at the private landfill.

Poblete said that these observations are good inputs to come up with a better solution when they finally sit down and discuss the issue.

“I would categorically say that there is no overpayment of the equipment rental. Billing of the contractor had been carefully scrutinized and certified to by the DPS in terms of actual equipment utilized as well as the number of days being served and the same had passed audit scrutiny of the Accounting Office,” Poblete said. – (FREEMAN)