Transport officials consider replacing NAIA-3 contractor
By Riza T. Olchondra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:03:00 12/25/2007
Filed Under: Air Transport, Government Contracts
THE DEPARTMENT of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) has fired Takenaka Corp. from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminal 3 (Naia 3) project for failing to complete its work.
But the termination may not be permanent as DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza said Takenaka is asking for another chance.
"They submitted a letter of reconsideration," he told reporters. "MIAA (Manila International Airport Authority) is studying it."
Mendoza said that, in the meantime, DOTC is looking for other contractors to undertake the retrofit and finish the airport construction.
The department has not set a timetable for the project's completion.
"Actually, it's not really a matter of targets anymore," Mendoza said. "What is important is to make it very, very safe."
Takenaka has not finished 2 percent of the airport construction project because it halted work when a legal battle for ownership of NAIA-3 broke out.
The government took over the terminal in December 2005 from project proponent Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (PIATCo).
This, after the Supreme Court declared PIATCo's original build-operate-transfer contract for the terminal null and disadvantageous to the government due to onerous changes made to the original contract.
The situation was compounded when part of the ceiling in the main terminal building collapsed in April 2006.
MIAA contracted foreign experts Ove Arup and TCGI to check the structure and they recommended the postponement of plans to open NAIA-3 after finding serious structural defects.
Takenaka disagreed with some of the findings of Ove Arup and TCGI.
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