ISABELA CITY, Basilan Province – House Deputy Minority Leader and Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman on Tuesday conducted a site inspection on the construction of the improvement of the P382 million Isabela City Port which has been under construction for six years now and remains non-operational.
Hataman said project engineers of Grace Construction have reported to him that they have already completed 98 percent of the project. However, physical assessment by the Isabela City Engineering Office said “otherwise.”
Hataman was accompanied by officials of the Philippine Ports Authority-Port Construction and Maintenance Department and engineers of the City Government of Isabela and Department of Public Works and Highways District Office.
During the budget hearing of the Department of Transportation early this week, Hataman informed PPA- General Manager Atty. Jay Daniel Santiago about the status of the construction of the improvement of the P382 million Isabela City Port.
He informed Santiago “that the port expansion project is now in its sixth year of construction and is still unfinished.”
Hataman asked Santiago why the completion of the project was taking too long when it should have been completed in two years.
Isabela City PPA officials have lamented that a “P382 million port project should have been completed within two years but the construction is now entering its sixth year and it has remained not operational to date.”
During the inspection of the port, Grace Construction project engineers assured Hataman that they would complete the project in two months or by November this year.
“I don’t have to debate it with them. What is important to me and to the Basileños is that they will complete the port project by November or before the end of this year,” said Hataman during the hearing.
“I believe they can complete the job if they would go for overtime in working for the remaining section that needs to be finished,” he added.
Meanwhile, PPA-PCMD Engineer Oliver Fortich agreed with the accomplishment percentage of the contractors of the port project.
Fortich also defended Grace Construction, saying that the contractor had delivered more materials at the site.
“As of now the contractor has already delivered construction materials beyond the expected volume at the project site but they have not claimed it. If they are going to implement it, more or less the volume will give an amount exceeding the original contract amount.”