• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Sangguniang Panlungsod has authorized Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez to sign with IPM Construction & Development Corporation president Isabelita Mercado the contracts of service and agreement for the management, operation, and maintenance of the Bacolod Sanitary Landfill Facility (SLF), and for the construction of SLF Cell No. 4, in Brgy. Felisa, all worth P123,255,637.
Benitez sought authority from the SP last month to sign the proposed contract for the management, operation, and maintenance of the SLF starting on May 1, with the city paying IPM P63,997,199.68 for eight months, or P7,999,649.96 a month.
The city government extended the contract of IPM last year, worth P63,999,000, also for the SLF operation and maintenance, until April 30 this year.
The city, meanwhile, shall pay IPM around P59.258 million, inclusive of value-added tax and all other miscellaneous fees, licenses, and taxes imposed by local and national governments, for the construction of SLF Cell No. 4.
The contract for the additional SLF section, or cell, shall include the construction of a leachate pond, leachate treatment pond, leachate reinjection pumping station, perimeter gravel road, V-shaped open riprap canal, and generator room, among others.
The project is for 180 days after receipt of the Notice to Proceed, and shall be constructed in the 25-hectare land purchased by the city government last year, under its P4.4 billion loan with the Development Bank of the Philippines.
City Legal Officer, Atty. Romeo Carlos Ting Jr., in his legal opinion dated March 14, said the contract “is sufficient in form and substance, and consistent with the City’s obligation to ensure the efficient and effective delivery of basic services to its constituents”. | CGC
