BCDA, Japanese contractor asked to explain SCTEx delay
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Pampanga provincial board has invited officials of the Bases Conversion Development Authority and two Japanese contractors to its Aug. 15 session to report on the status of construction of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).
The invitation was sent Monday on the heels of delays in the completion of the P21-billion flagship project of the Arroyo administration.
The 13-member board and its presiding officer, Vice Gov. Joseller Guiao, also scheduled an inspection of the 94-km project after the session to validate the reports of BCDA and its contractors.
The Kajima Corp., Obayashi Corp., JFE Engineering Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (KOJM) Joint Venture is building the 50-km Bataan-Pampanga portion. The Hazama-Taisei-Nippon Steel (HTN) Joint Venture is constructing the 44-km Pampanga-Tarlac side of the highway funded by a loan from the Japanese government.
KOJM penalties
BCDA president Narciso Abaya said that as of last week, KOJM’s actual remaining work stood at 18 percent, which it has to finish until the end of its four-month extended deadline in March 2008.
It remains unclear whether the government would collect at least P630 million in penalties from the Japanese contractor for the delays. The failure to meet the deadline was earlier blamed on right-of-way issues but BCDA officials had said KOJM failed to bring in the right equipment to finish its job on time.
Delay
HTN has completed 97 percent of its contract, leaving a 3-percent slippage or delay in work schedule.
The board’s action was in response to the request of the Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon, a multi-sectoral group supporting the Luzon Urban Beltway super region program of President Macapagal-Arroyo.
Unending work
This would be the third time that the BCDA would be called to the provincial board, Guiao said. The two previous hearings tackled the problem of right-of-way.
ADCL chair Rene Romero said his group would also ask for updates on the bidding for the operation and management of the toll way. Two biddings had failed as offers exceeded the BCDA’s proposal, Abaya said.
Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan, chair of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development Council (SCADC), said the SCADC was preparing a report on the status of the SCTEx.
An Inquirer source earlier expressed concern over BCDA’s failure to penalize KOJM for the delay, saying the government was virtually giving away P630 million.
More losses
The penalty, referred in the contract as “liquidated damages,” was based on a formula calculating the “value of unfinished work and unusable of finished work.”
Abaya found the amount “very speculative” and defended Ms Arroyo’s approval of Pamintuan’s recommendation to extend the timetable because KOJM’s claims for delay were valid.
The source, a person involved in the Subic-Clark development projects, said the government would also incur revenue losses of P200 million in the four-month delay in the opening of the toll way.
Abaya said the estimated losses were “speculative.”
“Normally, revenues are low and overhead expenditures are high because the users are not too many after the opening date,” he said.
The invitation was sent Monday on the heels of delays in the completion of the P21-billion flagship project of the Arroyo administration.
The 13-member board and its presiding officer, Vice Gov. Joseller Guiao, also scheduled an inspection of the 94-km project after the session to validate the reports of BCDA and its contractors.
The Kajima Corp., Obayashi Corp., JFE Engineering Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (KOJM) Joint Venture is building the 50-km Bataan-Pampanga portion. The Hazama-Taisei-Nippon Steel (HTN) Joint Venture is constructing the 44-km Pampanga-Tarlac side of the highway funded by a loan from the Japanese government.
KOJM penalties
BCDA president Narciso Abaya said that as of last week, KOJM’s actual remaining work stood at 18 percent, which it has to finish until the end of its four-month extended deadline in March 2008.
It remains unclear whether the government would collect at least P630 million in penalties from the Japanese contractor for the delays. The failure to meet the deadline was earlier blamed on right-of-way issues but BCDA officials had said KOJM failed to bring in the right equipment to finish its job on time.
Delay
HTN has completed 97 percent of its contract, leaving a 3-percent slippage or delay in work schedule.
The board’s action was in response to the request of the Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon, a multi-sectoral group supporting the Luzon Urban Beltway super region program of President Macapagal-Arroyo.
Unending work
This would be the third time that the BCDA would be called to the provincial board, Guiao said. The two previous hearings tackled the problem of right-of-way.
ADCL chair Rene Romero said his group would also ask for updates on the bidding for the operation and management of the toll way. Two biddings had failed as offers exceeded the BCDA’s proposal, Abaya said.
Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan, chair of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development Council (SCADC), said the SCADC was preparing a report on the status of the SCTEx.
An Inquirer source earlier expressed concern over BCDA’s failure to penalize KOJM for the delay, saying the government was virtually giving away P630 million.
More losses
The penalty, referred in the contract as “liquidated damages,” was based on a formula calculating the “value of unfinished work and unusable of finished work.”
Abaya found the amount “very speculative” and defended Ms Arroyo’s approval of Pamintuan’s recommendation to extend the timetable because KOJM’s claims for delay were valid.
The source, a person involved in the Subic-Clark development projects, said the government would also incur revenue losses of P200 million in the four-month delay in the opening of the toll way.
Abaya said the estimated losses were “speculative.”
“Normally, revenues are low and overhead expenditures are high because the users are not too many after the opening date,” he said.
By Tonette Orejas - Inquirer
Labels: bcda, kojm, sbma, sctex, subic clark expressway
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