Re: Asean Summit Lamp Posts ..Overpriced?
|
|
State auditors to check if P100-M posts overpriced
By Jolene Bulambot
Cebu Daily News
Last updated 07:54am (Mla time) 01/20/2007
THE 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit is over but some of the 1,860 decorative lampposts installed along the ceremonial route are still not functioning.
Now, the Commission on Audit in Central Visayas (COA-7) wants to determine if there are irregularities in the purchase of the short street lamps, which cost the government at least P100 million.
Illuminada Mangubat, COA 7 regional director, yesterday said her office would conduct either a regular audit or a special audit on the transaction.
“We can look into questions on procurement and review such questioned transactions. Even without a formal complaint and based on mere media reports, we can moto propio (on our own) investigate. It is our duty to look into all these allegations,” she told Cebu Daily News.
She said her office would also determine if the lampposts, which a supplier said cost P95,000 each, were overpriced.
“We will look into the materiality of this project, why (such) a big amount was involved. We will find out if there was overpricing,” Mangubat told Cebu Daily News.
If the investigation would show that there was indeed irregularity in the transaction, she said COA would initiate the filing of a case against concerned public officials before the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas.
“We really can't comment further or conclude anything yet. We will see the contract first and evaluate,” she said.
The national government gave the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)a budget of P100 million for the 1,860 decorative lamps that have been placed along the ceremonial route in Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities as part of the preparations for the recently concluded 12th ASEAN Summit.
The street lamps are about 12 feet tall, noticeably smaller than the sodium street lamps towering beside them. These China-made street lamps have holes on the sides where light filters out.
The lampposts were installed by two contractors last December but more than 100 of these conked out within weeks. Some posts were also detached.
Gampi Construction and Development Incorporated and Fambik Contractor said they already repaired the defective lampposts after reports of the malfunctioning lamps were reported in the media.
But Mangubat said she noticed some street lamps were still not functioning when she recently passed by the ceremonial route.
Since the project has not yet been turned over yet by the contractors to the DPWH, she said her office would have to start from scratch.
Mangubat said they would conduct an engineering inspection on the project and compel DPWH to produce the documents on the transaction.
“We can get the information from different sources, one from media reports. We can have our own inspection and we will require the agency to submit their documents. From there, we will base our audit,” she said.
Robert Lala, DPWH director for Central Visayas, declined to comment on the pending COA audit , saying he would rather wait until he received an order from the commission to answer the allegations.
He said some decorative street lamps were still busted but that repairs were immediately made by the contractors after the DPWH would report any damage or defects.
Lala said the agency had not fully paid the contractors for the project. The DPWH would only do so when the contractors comply with all the terms of their contract.
Lala said the decorative street lamps located along J. Luna Street, Ouano Ave. and Plaridel Street in Mandaue have been fully paid. He could not remember offhand the amount.
“At least with the 15 days given to the contractors to install the decorative lamps, they have done it. They immediately addressed all the defects noted, replaced all those that need to be replaced and corrected problems in the electrical connections,” he said.
“Before the ASEAN Summit, the street lamps were lighted. Those that failed to illuminate, they tried to replace them from time to time,” he added.
Gambi delivered the blue and green lampposts for Mandaue City while orange and red lampposts by Fambik were installed in Cebu and Lapu-Lapu cities.
Of the total P100 million, lampposts placed from SM City to Salinas Drive in Cebu City cost about P30 million, P25 million along the Mandaue Causeway and P45 million for those placed from Plaridel Street to Seno-Ouano Avenue in Mandaue City.
Lala said he was waiting for the report of his maintenance and district engineers as well as from Marlina Alvizo, DPWH assistant regional director, on the status of the street lamps and when the agency would conduct the final inspection.
The final inspection would be the last step before the DPWH would accept a project and make the final payment to the contractors, the director said.
|