BIR Bridge Construction for 31.4 Million
Since October 2017, the Taclobo-Bagacay Bridge or simply the “Overflow Bridge” has not been the same. The city government tried to “fix” the bridge multiple times by putting rocks and sand to cover the patches of holes on the leftover cement. However, this did not last when the next rain flushed the sand and rocks away. Finally, after their budget announcement of back in February 2018, a new budget is settled.
Bridge Over Very Troubled Waters
The Taclobo-Bagacay Bridge or the Batinguel-Bagacay Bridge is known by many locals as the BIR Bridge. It is known as such since the Bureau of Internal Revenue is located about 200 meters from the bridge. During a tropical storm in October 2017, the BIR bridge was halfway destroyed and flushed away. Days after the storm, the bridge was ignored. Residence in the area found it hard to get to the city area during the Buglasan Festival 2017. A week after, the first pile of rocks and sand were placed. Until today, that has been the only solution for “fixing” it.
31.4 Million Pesos for BIR Bridge Construction
There are three construction firms that joined the public bidding for the full span concrete bridge linking Barangays Batinguel and Bagacay near the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The City Bids and Awards Committee chaired by City Legal Officer Manuel R. Arbon opened the bids of PhilSouth, Jaime B. Ching Enterprises, Jargon Construction and Supply/Mighty Hok Summit and Development Corporation. Out of the three, PhilSouth offered a bid that was so low it saved the city government some Php 12.2 million of the original budget. The two other bidders were disqualified due to some deficiencies in their bids paving the way for PhilSouth to be declared as the lowest bidder.
Dumaguete City Mayor Felipe Antonio B. Remollo was informed later that PhilSouth Builder’s bid was Php 31.4 million, which was substantially lower than the budget allocation for the bridge’s construction at Php 43. 6 million.
The construction of the two bridges are among the priority projects of Mayor Remollo to decongest traffic and improve the safety of motorists and pedestrians especially with threats of floodwaters from Banica River. If finally awarded to PhilSouth, this contract practically saves the city government significant funds that could be used for other infrastructure projects.
The next stage would be the determination if PhilSouth’s is the Lowest Calculated Responsive bid. Once declared, the BAC can make the recommendation to Mayor Remollo to award the project to PhilSouth. The winning bidder will have 345 calendar days to finish the construction of the bridge.
Meanwhile, the construction for the full span concrete bridge in Colon Street at the back of Foundation University undertaken by the Joint Venture of Jaime B. Ching Enterprises and Supreme Mega Structure Builders Inc. has started in earnest and the area is now closed to traffic.
