DoTC awards ₱61.46 Million contracts for four domestic airport development projects

Proposed Puerto Princesa Palawan domestic airport. image from:  philippineairspace.blogspot.com

FOUR FIRMS have been awarded four separate airport projects in Visayas and Mindanao, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) said in a statement.

 

D.G. Sarmenta Construction bagged the contract for the Semi-Permanent Airport Terminal Project at the Puerto Princesa Airport for ₱21.50 million. The bid ceiling was ₱22.68 million. The project involves the installation of various electrical works, including air conditioning units.

 

V.T. Lao Construction won the contract to develop the Dipolog Airport for ₱26.70 million. It involves the construction of river protection and runway strip grade correction of the said airport. The original bid ceiling was ₱34.26 million.

 

Advance Tech Construction & Trading Corp. was awarded the Zamboanga Airport Development Project, which involves creek de-siltation, de-clogging of box culvert, and construction of a steel strainer, for ₱5.74 million. The bid ceiling was ₱6.02 million.

 

Vesa Engineering and Construction successfully bid for the Catarman Airport Development Project with ₱7.52 million. The project, whose original bid ceiling was ₱7.56 million, entails asphalt overlay of the runway and construction of a perimeter fence.

 

The DoTC awarded the contracts on Sept. 30, 2013

 

"This will improve passenger convenience by allowing the airports to meet increasing tourist arrivals in the meantime that long-term upgrades are being done," said DoTC Spokesperson Michael Arthur C. Sagcal said in the statement.

 

"We are aiming for this to be up by summer next year."

 

The agency saved over ₱9 million from these projects, which the government can now use to accelerate spending in order to boost the country's economy through the Disbursement Allocation Program (DAP), the DoTC said.

 

Meanwhile, the ₱1.72-billion Automated Fare Collection System (AFCS) public-private partnership project under DoTC is set to be auctioned off on Nov. 18, now that the DoTC has finalized the concessionaire agreement for the said project.

 

The project was supposed to be bid out on Aug. 30 but was deferred due to needed tweaks in its concessionaire agreement. It then was rescheduled to mid-October, before getting reset to November.

 

The AFCS project entails the decommissioning of the magnetic ticketing system of Light Rail Transit Lines 1 and 2 and Metro Rail Transit Line 3. The system will then be replaced with contactless smart card technology.

 

The project also involves the introduction of a centralized back office that will perform the necessary distribution of revenues.

 

Reporting:   L.C.S. Marasigan - BWorldOnline

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DOLE ready assistance to OFW's for possible “ban” on the hiring of Maid workers for Hong Kong

President Benigno S. Aquino III during the 16th ASEAN Plus Three Summit

President Aquino expressed hope that Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying would tell his people about the Philippines' desire to move forward after the 2010 Manila hostage crisis.

 

Aquino met with Leung at the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bali, Indonesia on Monday before proceeding here for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit and related meetings.

 

The President said he explained to Leung the reasons behind the Philippines' refusal to issue a public apology on behalf of a deranged individual who killed eight Hong Kong tourists he took hostage three years ago.

 

He said the act of a "mentally unstable" individual alone should not make the whole of the Filipinos and the Philippines liable.

 

The Philippine government had expressed regret and extended its sincere condolences several times and had given necessary assistance, including compensation, to the families of the victims of the hostage crisis.

 

The government also took measures like increasing the number of tourist police units in the city to prevent the same unfortunate incident from happening again.

 

Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ricky Carandang said high-level talks would continue because "we want to put the issue behind us."

 

Carandang said they were optimistic that both sides would clarify things and take steps to move forward.

 

The President also said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is ready to assist overseas Filipino workers who might face another threat of a ban on the hiring of Filipino workers in Hong Kong. – With Mayen Jaymalin – ABS-CBN News

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