Hanjin runs afoul in Panguil Bay bridge project

OZAMIZ CITY, Philippines - After being hounded by controversies in its shipyard projects in Subic and Villanueva, Misamis Oriental, Korean firm Hanjin Heavy Industries is facing another problem in the construction of the P3-billion Panguil Bay Bridge. The bridge that would connect Tubod, Lanao del Norte and Tangub City, Misamis Occidental is being built by the firm's subsidiary, Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Ltd. (HHICL). Misamis Occidental Gov. Loreto Leo Ocampos said Hanjin construction, which won the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract for the bridge project, was found to have "qualification issues." Ocampos said under the BOT law, winning bidders should have 60 percent Filipino ownership. Hanjin construction is a wholly owned Korean subsidiary and is thus ineligible for the contract, he said. Hanjin was the lone bidder for the construction of Panguil Bay bridge project. Ocampos said a new bidding to invite new interested parties will be scheduled in light of this development. He said the bidding would have to take account the prevailing prices of construction materials and estimated that government equity will hike to more than P900 million. "The P900 million may double, given the steep rise in project cost. Amid the pressure on government's fiscal resources exerted by the rice price crisis, it's quite difficult to demand more equity from it," Ocampos said. Ocampos said the project would have to undergo a review by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to determine its investment returns and volume of vehicular traffic. A study made five years ago estimated that around 2,000 vehicles and some 5,000 people would use the bridge every day. The bridge will cut the travel time to less than 30 minutes and will do away the use of ferryboats. - Sun.Star