Tomas plans to extend Jomara’s hauling deal

One of the dumptrucks of Jomara Konstruckt Corp. hauls garbage dumped at the South Road Properties in this Jan. 2, 2017 photo.
cdn file photo

Mayor gives more time for BAC to decide on new P77.8M hauling contract

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is planning to extend the emergency contract of private service hauler, Jomara Konstruckt Corp., which will expire today (Jan. 31).

This developed after Osmeña extended to Feb. 1 the deadline for the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) to award to the lowest qualified bidder of the P77.8 million garbage hauling contract.

“I would see to it that it (contract with Jomara) will be extended. Actually there is a public welfare clause. In essence, in times of emergency, the mayor has martial law, but you exercise it when it is only needed,” Osmeña said.

The local chief executive has an emergency power, he said.

Osmeña said that he wanted the BAC to go over the documents of the lowest bidder Pasajero Motors Corp. (Pamocor), who gave a bid of P1,344 per ton of the garbage hauled.

The mayor said an unresolved issue arose questioning whether Pamocor, a supplier of light and heavy equipment and small vehicles, is qualified to handle the city’s garbage disposal.

He also said that it was his order to extend the deadline of the bidding for two days, from January 24 to January 26, to “allow for competition.”

“I was going to extend it even a little bit more. Our only assurance (is) that we will get the best price. The imputation that because one is a friend of mine has no significance whatsoever,” he said.

The owner of Pamocor was a known close ally of Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK), Kasambagan Councilor and businessman Franklin Ong.

Osmeña clarified that his basic principle is to gather more bidders to get a lower price.

If Pamocor would not qualify, then Jomara, the only other qualified bidder who gave a bid of P1,350 per ton of garbage hauled, would get the contract.

Ronaldo Malacora, General Services Office (GSO) head, said yesterday that the technical working group (TWG) of BAC is in the process doing a post-qualification of the two bidders of the P77.8 million hauling contract.

“While Pamocor gave a lower bid than Jomara, the former is not automatically the winner of the bid,” said Malacora.

“That’s the reason why the bids are undergoing post-qualification. This will determine which is the better bid among the two,” he said.

He added that there were two other interested bidders earlier but they both were not able to qualify.

Under the bidding, the approved P77.8 million budget will be good for at least 55,600 tons of garbage at the floor price of P1,400 per ton.

Other specifications under the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the bidding include the need for the service provider to have an agreement with an operator of a sanitary landfill that is accredited by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

They should also be able to provide a transfer station.

Councilor Joel Garganera said he saw no problem with the mayor’s plan to extend the city’s emergency contract with Jomara.

He said what should be looked closely into is the ongoing bidding for the new P77.8 million hauling contract in next three months.

Garganera, council’s committee on environment head, said that what is important is to make sure that the city’s garbage are collected and not left lying around on streets.