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Halsema contractors feud delays project

BUGUIAS, Benguet (Nov. 12) — Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. blamed nature and the row between a South Korea-based contractor and its employee firm for the delay and the escalation of the cost of the rehabilitation of 84.8-km Halsema Highway that connects Baguio City to interior Cordillera.

“Rains have drastically affected work in Halsema. There are also sinking areas that should be addressed,” Revilla, chair of the Senate public works committee, said in a press conference here on Sunday.

Revilla said the Senate became interested in the Halsema Highway rehabilitation after they found out that the cost increased from P718 million to more than P1 billion.

“That’s a big discrepancy,” he said. “But so far, we have not seen any mis-implementation of the rehabilitation of the Baguio-Bontoc Road (Halsema Highway),” Revilla said. His team made three coring samples of the road project, particularly in the sinking areas, and found that these were above the standard thickness of 23 centimeters. The samples taken were measured at 27 cm, 26 cm and 23 cm.

Revilla also said they will investigate the current row between the main contractor Daewoo Engineering and Construction Corp. and its employee firm, Francis Enrico Gutierrez Construction Corp. (FGCC). Recently, the latter was able to take away about P20-million worth of equipment, which Daewoo said were theirs. The firms sued each other, putting the project on hold.

“If they don’t resolve it soon, the project will be delayed. We have to fast track this,” Revilla said. He also raised questions on the actual status of FGCC in the project.

Revilla said FGCC owner Gutierrez, a native of Cavite, told him that he is a “subcontractor” of Daewoo and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) did not allow this.

Last week, Mt. Province Rep. Victor Dominguez questioned various aspects of the project, including the presence of subcontractors. DPWH Assistant Secretary Manuel Agyao said they have not approved any subcontractor for Daewoo. He said Daewoo only engaged the services of contractors to provide equipment and labor and such agreement did not need approval from DPWH.

In Kyu Kang, Daewoo project manager, said FGCC was terminated from the project last May because its performance was way below expectation. Kang said when FGCC was terminated, it had a “negative slippage” of 24.54 percent or had done only a fourth of what was expected of it.

Despite these problems, Agyao said Daewoo is within its scheduled percentage of accomplishment. Claude Allouche, the French engineering consultant of Daewoo, said the past typhoons and the resulting landslides added more expenses to the rehabilitation work. # Johnny Fialen and Frank Cimatu for NORDIS

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