The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) on Tuesday said over 100 contracts of its attached agencies have been cleared for implementation.
In a briefing, DOTC Secretary Jose de Jesus, told reporters that out of 130 agency contracts reviewed, 111 were cleared for implementation.
In July, de Jesus ordered agency contracts and all major infrastructure projects to be held in abeyance pending a detailed review by the DOTC legal arm, headed by Undersecretary Aristotle B. Batuhan.
These projects were approved in the few remaining months of the previous administration.
The Transport chief said the move was meant to ensure that these contracts are above board.
He added that these steps are necessary to remove the potential obstacles that might get in the way of the full implementation of these projects.
De Jesus said the DOTC has put on hold all pending signed contracts, particularly the “midnight†contracts to rehabilitate and upgrade the airport facilities for Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.
He said that the value of the "midnight" contracts for NAIA 3 could reach to P2.3 billion.
De Jesus said that the DOTC has set in motion an approach that will fast-track the full operationalization of NAIA 3 at a lower total cost of civil works and equipment.
"Savings of millions of pesos will be generated from the cancellation of NAIA 3’s midnight contracts," he said.
The Transport chief added that the government is in talks with Takenaka to complete the unfinished work at the NAIA 3. Takenaka is the Japanese contractor of the NAIA 3.
Earlier, the government won a case against Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco) Inc. before the International Chamber of Commerce in Singapore.
In 2007, the Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes junked the claim of compensation by Fraport AG, Piatco’s German partner.
NAIA 3 opened in 2008 after six years of neglect caused by a clash among the parties that put up the facility. The airport terminal was an unsolicited build-operate-transfer project undertaken by Asian Emerging Dragon Corp., a group of Chinese magnates, in 1994.
At present, Cebu Pacific and AirPhil Express operate at NAIA 3.
Also, the DOTC has unravelled most of the tangled transactions in the MRT 3 Project, including the buyout scheme that has been proposed.
He said that legal and financial experts have been tasked to finalize a strategy for a government takeover of the project.
The DOTC will also review the Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Systems for Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) Package 1 Project.
De Jesus said the project is crucial because it will ensure the country’s compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requirements on the satellite-aided aviation system that has been awarded to a French supplier.
For the procurement of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) driver’s license, de Jesus ordered the revision of its terms of reference (TOR) to uphold general performance specifications instead of card type-specific procurement guidelines.
"This initiative is expected to widen the area for competing bidders, lower the license production cost and ensure transparency and level playing field in the bidding process," de Jesus said.
The DOTC also ordered the review of the inter connectivity agreement entered into by the Stradcom Corp. with other third parties.
This is meant to ensure consistency with the BOO agreement between Stradcom Corp. and the LTO, and to make sure that fees charged are warranted and reasonable.
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