P130M projects set for Cebu City

About P130 million worth of infrastructure projects will be implemented after being bidded out last October 7, Cebu City Engr. Jose Marie Poblete said.

Poblete issued the clarification after the Cebu City council’s budget and finance committee reported that P423 million worth of projects under the city’s approved P550 million Local Development Fund (LDF) for this year remain unimplemented.

“We have different basis because there are different stages in the implementation process. It’s not just the actual works of heavy equipment,” Poblete said.

He said project implementation starts with the preparation of Program of Works and Estimates (POWE), then approval of the bidding contract, followed by the bidding and the actual start of the project.

Poblete said the P130 million worth of LDF projects are listed under the P423 million LDF.

Backlog

He said another P103 million worth of projects secured approval of their POWE and are about to be bidded out.

Poblete said there were delays in the implementation of the LDF projects when he  succeeded Engr. Kenneth Carmelita Enriquez who was appointed City Planning and Development Officer.

“My strategy of office was that I addressed the backlog of projects from the previous years first. We focused on this in the part of the year. In the late part of the year, that’s when we were able to focus on the 2014 projects,” he said.

He said they target to finish bidding out all the LDF projects before the year ends though there may be smaller projects that can continue next year.

Among the list of LDF projects that were already bidded out and were already given a notice of award are the road concreting projects in Binaliw worth P19.9 million, Lusaran (P19.9 million), Sudlon I (P14.5 million), Pung-ol Sibugay (P6.9 million), Pulangbato (P5.9 million), Guba (P4.9 million) and Budlaan (P9.9 million) and the renovation of Buot cultural center (P1.8 million).