Slow contractors may lose Capitol road contracts

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia says that she will terminate contracts of contractors with unfinished road projects./CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Project contractors, who were unable to finish their assigned projects, face the risk of termination of their contract with the Capitol.

The Cebu Provincial Engineering Office is expected to start assessing the rehabilitation of provincial and barangay roads anytime soon.

This as the February 29-deadline Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia set for contractors to complete these projects has already lapsed. Garcia said contractors who failed on completing their respective projects will have their contracts terminated.

February 29 deadline

“I gave them until February 29 and then I shall ask for a full report from the provincial engineers. Those that have not performed – or those whose projects remain incomplete — will be terminated,” she said.

She also said these companies would not be allowed to participate in bidding processes to continue the unfinished projects.

“(I told them that) your contracts will be terminated, and you will no longer qualify to bid to continue the project that you started. And they will no longer have the chance to bid (to finish the project),” she added.

16 contractors

The Capitol met with at least 16 contractors, which were tasked with rehabilitating provincial and barangay roads on February 3, to shed light on the projects’ progress. During the meeting, a ‘dismal progress’ on these projects was reported.

Read more: Capitol sees dismal progress in road concreting projects implementation

The provincial government in 2019 has set aside P800 million for the repair of several province-owned infrastructure which include bridges and roads.

With funds amounting close to P4 billion, infrastructure — particularly road concreting project — also share a large bulk of the province’s P12-billion budget for 2020.