Rama orders rebidding of CCMC construction

CEBU, Philippines - After declaring a “failure of bidding” for the Cebu City Medical Center, Mayor Michael Rama now wants to hasten the rebidding process for the hospital’s reconstruction.

A seed money of P300 million for the construction would be augmented with this year’s P300 million budget appropriation for CCMC, P23 million financial assistance from the Department of Health and P5 million from Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation, P17.2 million proceeds from the “Piso Mo Hospital Ko” fund drive, and other pledges from private sectors.

“With that amount, we will have it rebid with utmost urgency,” Rama said.

He said documentations for the rebidding are already underway, vowing “we will continue with our endeavor which is to rebuild the people hospital.”

The construction of the 10-storey hospital building worth P1.5 billion, Rama said, has to start especially with the upcoming international events that the city will be hosting, such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit this year, the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in 2016, and the meetings incentives conferences and exhibitions (MICE), among others.

Last year, Rama has declared a “failure of bidding” for CCMC’s first phase of construction.

Cebu’s WTG Construction and Development Corp. and Manila’s E.M. Ureta then won the bid for placing P274,975,904, but they were post-disqualified for allegedly being “non-responsive” after the Bids and Awards Committee found out that the documents submitted contained “discrepancies and false information.”

Rama stressed that the competitive bidding process, such as the advertisement, pre-bid conference, eligibility screening of prospective bidders, receipt and opening of bids, evaluation of bids, post-qualification, and award of contract be likewise conducted anew.

In a memorandum order addressed to BAC, the ma-yor ordered to conduct the bidding again this year to avoid “suspicion of favoritism and anomalies.”

Also, the mayor clarified that he has no plan of dissolving the CCMC ad hoc committee chaired by Councilor Mary Ann Delos Santos.

“We will just revisit its composition but we will not dismantling it and I have no intention of doing that,” he clarified.

Rama said the committee’s composition will only be reviewed “to attune to what we want,” as he refrained from further elaborating his plan with the committee.

On the other hand, Rama said he is eyeing to have an integrated facility that will house a “wellness, quick response, multi-functional complex” at the Citilink terminal.

He said the proposed development would serve as an expansion to the hospital since he is not planning to renew Citilink’s contract.

Rama earlier announced that the city would not renew the terminal’s contract as it allegedly violates a provision of a city ordinance prohibiting the operation of a terminal near a hospital.

A product of public-private partnership, One Citilink Terminal started operating in 2003 on a 1.8-hectare property beside CCMC along Natalio Bacalso Avenue. — Kristine B. Quintas/NSA (FREEMAN)