Road project in Eastern Samar set for completion in May

The remaining three packages of the multibillion Secondary National Roads Development Project in Eastern Samar province are expected to be completed by May. 

In a report submitted to the Eastern Samar Project Development Monitoring Team (ESPDMT), headed by Bishop Crispin Vasquez, Package 2 and 4 of the project will be completed in May ,while package 3 will be completed by next month.

Contract Package 1, involving the rehabilitation of the 16.3-kilometer road from Paranas town, Samar province to the boundary of Sulat town, Eastern Samar, is already finished.

The contractors of the Secondary National Roads Development Project and the consultancy firm of the Millennium Challenge Account-Philippines (MCA-P) had disclosed the physical progress of SNRDP Contract Package 1 to Contract Package 4 in Eastern Samar. The progress report was one of the highlights during the recent meeting called by the ESPDMT at the bishop’s residence.

PNC Katahira Consultancy Firm deputy team leader Engr. Jaime Ocenar disclosed that the Contact Package 1 had been the first one to be finished.

Contract Package 2—the most expensive one—encompasses the rehabilitation of the 63. 78-km road from Hinabangan town, Samar, to Sulat. This contract package costs P2.5 billion and is being implemented by South Korean firm Hanjin Group Co. Ltd.

Contract Package 2 also includes the rehabilitation of 20 bridges and the reconstruction of five other infrastructures. The project was started in July 2013 and is slated to be finished in May. According to Ocenar, the project is 85-percent complete.

Meanwhile, Contract Package 3 is implemented by a Chinese firm in partnership with McBuilders. The project costs P2.45 billion and encompasses the rehabilitation of the P64.58-km road and the replacement of six bridges. These road-rehabilitation projects are the connecting boundaries of the towns of San Julian, Sulat, Balangkayan and Llorente, all in Eastern Samar.

The project had been initially slated to be completed in October 2013, but was extended to October last year, then to December, and then again to March 13.

McBuilders explained that the delays were due to the onslaught of Supertyphoon Yolanda (international codename: Haiyan) in November 2013 and the delay on the rehabilitation of the Can-obing Bridge in Brgy. Bato, Borongan City, and the Borongan Bridge in Brgy. Sabang North, of the same city. The project is already 92.98-percent complete, according to Ocenar, adding that the contractors had assured to finish the project on time.

Meantime, Contract Package 4—involving the rehabilitation of a 77.5-km road—is already 85-percent complete and is slated to be finished on May 13.

In line with this, Engr. Rudy Arias of MCA-P emphasized that if the contractors are not able to finish the project on time based on the target date, they are obliged to pay P1 million a day for delayed damages.

Arias had also said that the Millennium Challenge Corp. shall stop disbursing funds—whether the projects had been finished or not—come May 25, the end of the contract period.

If this happens, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will be the one to finish the project for any remaining finishing touches.

The MCA-P also disclosed that it had lobbied to get an allocation for the DPWH budget in the 2016 national budget to sustain the project if this will not be finished before the contract period of the SNRDP.