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Caramoan Port whose repair will reportedly need nearly P60 million |
The repair of the damaged Caramoan Port at barangay Guijalo has been assured after bidding was held by the Philippine Port Authority (PPA) in Manila on March 28, 2007 for the rehabilitation work.
Welex Construction won in the bidding with a bid amount of P58,821,364.00.
Manolo Alvarez, a Caramoan who holds a sensitive post at the PPA as acting senior executive assistant, said funding was allocated for the project upon the request of Gov. L-Ray Villafuerte.
Built only in 2002 by the DOTC Special Reform Related Feeder Ports Project (SRRFPP) at the cost of P72 million, the Caramoan Port was funded through a loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). Originally estimated to cost only P53.6 million, the project cost escalated by nearly P20 million and yet it was the only port in Camarines Sur which crumbled after two typhoons last year.
Three other ports were simultaneously built in Camarines Sur under the same program and same funding source – Pasacao Port, San Jose Port at Talisay and Tamban Port in Tinambac. All these three ports sustained no damage after the typhoons last year even if winds were stronger in all three areas, leading observers to conclude that the Caramoan Port was sub-standard and ill-supervised.
Observers however noted that the repair allocation appear to represent already about 83% of the original overall project cost of Caramoan port when the damaged portion is only about one fourth of the structure. Moreover, boulder materials are still on site.
