Contractor’s work quality now under close scrutiny
Published: November 19, 2006 by The Bohol Standard
After the Department of Public Works and Highways, Region 7, Cebu office corrected erroneous media reports concerning the mode and awarding of a P64-million worth of road concrete paving projects in four areas of the third congressional district of Bohol to just one contractor, the issue has shifted to the contractor’s work performance.
Manila-based Persan Construction, Inc. is now questioned on the quality of their work in the P40-million asphalting work of the Panglao Island Circumferential Road Improvement Project.
DPWH 7 assistant director Gloria Dindin personally came to Bohol Wednesday leading a team of material engineers in extracting samples from the road project, particularly in the Tangnan-Doljo road sections.
Joining the inspecting team were DPWH-Bohol 1st District Engineering Office construction section engineers Ester Calacat and Alejandra Clarete.
Two sacks of base coarse aggregates extracted from the site were taken to the DPWH-1 Materials Quality Control laboratory while samples of core asphalt are now under laboratory test at the DPWH 7 MQC in Cebu City for grading.
The samples are subjected to natural air drying for a week to determine its quality as per approved material billing s and specification in the program of work provided for the project.
DPWH-Bohol 1st District Engineering Office MQC head Engr. Wilfreda Bolotaolo assured release of the report this Wednesday.
Track record
Persan is reported to have undertaken similar multi-million projects in Davao and in Surigao, as well as in other parts of the country.
A secretary who had been with Persan for the last six years said the company is used to controversies and don’t pay much attentions to media rumblings.
It caught the limelight when local contractors begun questioning circumstances on how the firm bagged the assailed P64-million worth of road concreting projects that were allegedly not published and kept away from the knowledge of local contractors.
The firm further created public attention when former Panglao mayor Benedicto Alcala exposed the lack of crushed stones in the base preparations of the Panglao road asphalting project.
A Persan engineer allegedly told the DPWH 7 monitoring engineers that the base had indeed no stone base since the materials were “too expensiveâ€.
Vigilance
Reacting on the media hype, Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado urged for the filing of a case against those responsible if evidence and circumstances so warrant.
Third district congressman Eladio Jala had also called on the public to closely watch the construction of the four road concreting projects in his area.
Aside from denying his participation in choosing Persan contractor, Jala also was worried of the lack of approved quarry sources near the project sites where the Chocolate Hills protected areas are located.
The apprehension was confirmed by the Bohol Standard when it went to the Persan Bicao, Carmen field office and learned from project engineer David Ramirez that they are still looking for a quarry source since they cannot obtain such materials in sites within the protected areas.
Materials quality control (MQC) engineers expressed disapproval of the nearest Napo, Alicia quarry source since the materials found there are mostly dolomites which are not stable unlike anapog base coarse.
The projects costing P17-million each bided at the regional office were the improvement concrete paving works of Junction Jagna-Siera Bullones Road and the same type of work from junction Dat-an Carmen-Sierra Bullones-Alicia Road.
The two other projects bidded and to be supervised by the DPWH-Bohol 3rd Engineering Office under district engineer Aramis Torrefranca are: the improvement concrete paving along Loay Interior Road (LIR) Carmen-Sagbayan, Bacani National Road (St. 63+560 to St. 64+520 with exception Carmen Section) with a contract amount of P14,255,870.68 and another LIR concrete paving Buenavista-Carmen-Danao-Jetafe Road (St. 65+311.63 to St. 66+500 with exception of Carmen Section) with a contract amount of P14,198,899.44.
Each is estimated to be only 900 meters long, more or less; has set a completion period of 195 working days.
A certain Reynaldo Perez, introduced as owner of Persan Construction, Inc. came to Bohol Thursday and conferred with the firm’s project engineer Jun Israel on the noise coming from the local contractors and the question of their work performance that came up lately.
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