125 classrooms in MP awaited for construction

HAPPY WEEKEND

By Gina Dizon  

BONTOC, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE - A total of 125 classrooms are up for construction here at Mountain Province in response to the need for rooms to accommodate pupils in the elementary and high school education.

Proposed classrooms in  10 secondary  and 115  elementary  schools located  in  66 sites were forwarded by  DepEd Mountain Province to the DepEd central office for their  consideration in the  DEP-Ed’s Public School Infrastructure Project  (PSIP) under the Private Public Partnership arrangement.

Of the proposed 66 sites, 20 projected classrooms are found in Tadian, 40 in Bauko, 7 in Sagada, 3 in Besao, 1 in Barlig, 10 in Natonin, 40 in Paracelis, 3 in Sadanga and 1 in Bontoc. Minoli and San Rafael primary schools in Paracelis are already being constructed.

Officer in Charge Schools Division Superintendent Gloria Buyaao of the Department of Education- Mountain Province said  construction  of the schools were expected before the schools opening this year by Megawide Construction  in partnership with Dep-ed central office.

A notice to proceed  was expected to be  issued March this year  but was stalled with the pending validation by Megawide  Construction-EDCOP  of proposed sites, Engr Domingo Banglo Jr of  Dep Ed- Mountain Province  said.

Banglo wishes that validating teams coordinates with Dep-Ed Mt Province in their validation activities.

The agreement inked  between the two parties awaited construction of  classrooms to be done over the next  14 months from signing October last year and respond to the lack of 66,813 classrooms nationwide 

The consulting firm  Engineering  and Development Corporation of the Philippines (EDCOP) forwards their comments for any revised plan following validation before construction begins. EDCOP specially participates in the DepEd-PPP-PSIP particularly for Regions 1, 2, 3, CAR, 10 and CARAGA. EDCOP enlists engineers and support staff for the monitoring and inspection of projects.

Construction firm Megawide Construction does the building of the 125 schools as part of the construction of 2,440 classrooms in Regions 1.2.3, and CAR within Dep-Ed’s PPP-PSIP program.

The consortium of BSP & Co. Inc. and Vicente Lao Construction does classroom building in Regions 10 and Caraga for a total of 1,930 classrooms.

The PSIP Phase 2 with a total of P8.8 billion, involves designing, financing and constructing 10,679 one-story and two-story classrooms, including furniture, fixtures and toilets, in 5,033 public schools in 14 regions nationwide.

Classroom sites in Mimaropa and Bicol, Western, Central and Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga peninsula, Davao and Soccsksargen regions,  would be undertaken by the DepEd through the regular procurement process under the Government Procurement Reform Act.

The PSIP 2 is a recipient of the Project Development and Monitoring Fund (PDMF) managed by the PPP Center. The DepEd was given funding support to procure transaction advisors to provide technical assistance in the bid-process management, including the preparation of bid documents and contracts.