DPWH gives Casureco II ‘til July to relocate posts

By Juan Escandor Jr. NAGA CITY--- For the Camarines Sur II Electric Cooperative (Casureco II) to avail of the government subsidy in relocating its electric posts affected by the road-widening projects, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is giving the electric co-op to do it until July this year. Richard Ragragio, assistant second district engineer of the DPWH in Camarines Sur, said Casureco II and DPWH have signed a joint circular with a window of one year from July 2017 to July 2018 for them to relocate the posts and for the DPWH to pay for the effort. But Ragragio said the DPWH found discrepancy in the computation of Casureco II for the streets and national roads in Naga and Calabanga areas amounting to P16M while the DPWH computation amounted to P9M. He said the estimated total cost in the relocation of posts along the national roads in Naga and Calabanga area could reach P20M. Nelson Lalas, general manager of the Casureco II, said the costing of the relocation of the electric posts in Naga and Calabanga area was done by both the DPWH and Casureco II through a joint inventory and costing of posts’ relocation. Lalas said once the issue in the computation has been settled in a meeting to held on Friday (Jan. 12), the costs of the relocation of posts in Naga and Calabanga will be submitted to the National Electrification Administration (NEA) for approval, then to the DPWH national office for final approval of the budget. He said Casureco II will not directly receive the budget of relocation but through the NEA from DPWH. “The DPWH found out late in December the discrepancy in the computation of the Casureco II based on the allowed costing in the joint memorandum circular,” Ragragio said. He said the negotiation with Casureco II continues and they will give back the costing from DPWH for the electric co-op to submit it to the NEA. Ragragio said after July this year, if Casureco II cannot comply with the deadline to relocate the electric posts, the electric co-op will still be obliged to relocate them but at their own expense. “If I am on their side, I would opt to start the relocation now and later charge the DPWH of the expenses than shouldering the relocation cost after July,” he said. However, Rogragio said that before Casureco II could relocate the electric posts, the DPWH has already quantified the costs and a joint inspection has been done with. Lalas said Casureco II has no extra fund to finance the relocation of the electric posts and they can only start the relocation when the funds have been released to them by the DPWH. Ragragio said Casureco II computed the relocation of posts based on the estimate of the price of the upgraded posts to be used. “Supposedly, based on the joint circular, the DPWH will only pay for the costs of the original posts. If you upgraded the posts it will not be paid for its costs but for the original ones previously used,” he said. Lalas said they have to upgrade the posts using concrete ones because these are resilient and have better chances to withstand typhoons. He said Casureco II and the DPWH on the scheduled meeting on Friday will settle all the discrepancies in the computation so that the papers and documents could move on and submit them to the NEA for appropriate action.