Totally ‘deductible costs’ DEPW inspecting CCMC this week

CEBU, Philippines — This week, Cebu City's Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) is set to inspect the new Cebu City Medical Center building to evaluate the performance of its contractor C.E. Padilla Construction Inc., and calculate the liquidated damages.

City Assistant Engineer Nilo Igot said that the contractor failed to complete phase 1 of the project, which is the structural framework of the building, last December 27, 2018.

"Amo pa na i-compute kay na-expire na man gud ang iyahang contract pag December 27 (last year), hangtod karon ang sige man sila trabaho pa sa phase 1," he said yesterday.

Supposedly, last December, C.E. Padilla was expected to complete the structural framework of the seven-story hospital building along N. Bacalso Avenue. However, there was a delay because construction materials were not delivered on time.

Igot said they have to compute the slippage so that they will know how much the contractor will pay the city government. He said under the contract, the calculation of the liquidated damages will be one-tenth of every unfinished work.

Once the contractor completes phase 1, DEPW will issue a certification which will be submitted to City Treasurer's Office for the billing. DEPW will attach the liquidated damages of the said construction firm for deduction from its contract price with the city government.

"Inig kolekta nila final, ma-deduct man na didto kay naa man sila'y liquidated damages. So inig-certify namo nga humana sila, mo-file sila for billing, so i-deduct na didto, automatic na," Igot said.

The construction of the CCMC building involves two phases, the first is the physical appearance or the structural framework and the second phase is the internal design.

The first phase covers the lower ground up to the seventh floor of the building and is worth P514.97 million.

"Wala pa g’yud sila nahuman sa phase 1 pero gamay nalang, mga one percent siguro," he said.

He further said C.E. Padilla has started working on phase 2.

To recall, the Bids and Awards Committee for Infrastructure and Consultancy Services awarded phase 2 of the building, with a contract price amounting to P283.4 million, to C.E. Padilla.

Igot could not yet give a definite date for the operation of the first three floors.

"Mag-meeting pa mi this week aron mahibaw-an sad when operational ang first three floors sa CCMC," he said.

Earlier, it was projected that the first three floors of the building will be operational by next month. —/BRP (FREEMAN)