DOTC seeks bids for P521M worth of rescue boats, equipment

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is getting a P521-million upgrade in the form of new equipment for rescue operations, said the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), which set July 18 as pre-bid conference date and August 8 as deadline for the submission of bids.

 

Sixty-three rescue boats are basically the key pieces of equipment the PCG has to deploy for rescue missions sent out from its 12 districts, 63 stations and 237 detachments.

 

“DOTC seeks to reverse this situation by not only increasing the number of PCG boats, but by enhancing also our coast guard men’s capability for rescue and relief operations,” Roxas said in a statement issued Tuesday.

 

Planned for procurement through bidding are 300 units of aluminum, V-shaped hull boats, 81 units of rigid hull inflatable boats, 50 units of rubber boats, six units of jet skis, 2,586 units of common life vests (MARINA-type approved life saving apparatus), 1,724 units of flares, 862 units of VHF handheld marine radios, 862 units of life vests, and 431 units of megaphones.

 

The PCG said the rescue boats must meet the designs and specifications of Special Forces Commando units and conform to the standards set by European directive EC94/25 and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) AQAP-1.

 

Each rescue boat must also be equipped with a megaphone, two units of VHF handheld marine type radio, two units of life vests, six units of common life vests, and four units of flares.

 

Secretary Roxas said this equipment upgrade would ensure that each of the 237 detachments will have at least one fully-equipped aluminum V-Shaped hull boat with the corresponding set of rescue equipment and that each of the 63 stations would have at least one Aluminum V-Shaped Hull and one rigid hull inflatable boat.

 

“With the purchase of the new rubber boats, it is expected that our travelers on our sea lanes will be at an average distance of 5 kilometers to the nearest rubber boat station, a great improvement from the present 50 kilometers,” Roxas added. — PDC/ELR, GMA News