Tomas not interested to look for new CCMC contractor

The new CCMC building still under construction.

DESPITE DELAYS

IF ONLY to prevent from incurring further delays, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he would rather stick it out with the current contractor tasked to finish the new Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) than look for a new one.

Osmeña told reporters yesterday, that cancelling the construction of the CCMC because of the slippage incurred will only result to more delays.

The new CCMC, which was started in 2015, was supposed to be completed in 2017 yet.

“But if we’re going to cancel the project now and rebid the whole thing, it will take years (for it to be completed). So we’re trying to save it of what we have now because remember, this is not a road. If there’s a slippage in a road (construction), you can always stop it. But this is a hospital, and there are many components there,” said Osmeña.

The city government’s Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) issued a show-cause order to C.E. Padilla Construction – the contractor hired in 2015 to complete the new CCMC – to explain the delay.

City engineers have found out that the firm has incurred a 23 percent slippage, which is eight percent more than the standard of 15 percent. They added that this could be used as basis to rescind the contract between the city government and C.E. Padilla.

But doing so, Osmeña said, would only mean major delays.

Meanwhile, the mayor, in a memorandum, ordered to suspend for 90 days, the architectural component of the hospital’s construction starting May 11.

According to him, this is to give way to the new directive from the Department of Health (DOH) reducing the new hospital’s floors from 10 to six.

Construction of the new CCMC building started under the administration of former Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama. Rama decided to demolish the old building since it was unfit for occupancy following the 7.2-magnitude quake in 2013.

Now, Rama urged the administration to fast track its completion.

“You should be having that as a priority since that (CCMC) provides health services, especially to the poor. But then again, I’m not surprised if he (Osmeña) wants to suspend work on the hospital. He wanted it closed in the first place,” said Rama.