City suspends P20 million Session Road sidewalk project

The City Engineering Office (CEO) suspended the issuance of the notice to proceed to the contractor of the P20 million Session Road sidewalk improvement project to await the outcome of the scheduled consultations by the local legislative body on the said matter.

City Engineer Edgar Victorio Olpindo disclosed that the aforesaid project was already bidded out by the city’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) on March 22, 2022 or a few days before the start of the election ban on the implementation of projects and that the contractor was simply awaiting the issuance of the notice to proceed for the said project.

However, he claimed that the BAC decided to suspend the issuance of the said notice to the contractor on April 6, 2022 to pave the way for the requested conduct of consultations on what the people of Baguio want on how to undertake the said endeavor.

The city engineer stated that whatever will be the suggestions and recommendations of the public during the scheduled consultation will be considered by the local government. That is why there might be a change order that may be introduced on the project but the same will be based on the amount that was the result of the bidding of the project.

According to him, whatever will be the output of the consultation will be considered by the CEO in the possible revision of the design of the sidewalk improvement project along the city’s main road to improve the current state of the sidewalk that will be implemented on the right side of Session Road going up.

He added that the said project is just the initial phase of the Session Road sidewalk improvement project as the local government will work out the allocation of another P40 million to complete the same which will be implemented on the left side of the road going up to achieve the desired pedestrianization of the city’s main thoroughfare.

Earlier, the local legislative body scheduled a public consultation on April 29, 2022 to solicit the suggestions and recommendations of the people and concerned sectors in the published design of the Session Road sidewalk improvement project to ensure that the final design of the project will conform with the standard norms of the community.

Olpindo stipulated that the CEO is willing to listen to the plight of the public on the Session road sidewalk improvement project for the possible improvement of the design of the same that will address the issues and concerns that had been raised by the people when the earlier project design was posted in the social media.

The local government was supposed to issue the notice to proceed to the winning contractor, Napyeak Construction, if the said issuance was not suspended by the BAC to give way for the requested consultations for the proposed improvement of the design that will consider the suggestions and recommendations of the public. – Dexter A. See