THE Department of Education (DepEd) and its private partners have completed construction of more than 9, 000 classrooms under the first phase of a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for School Infrastructure Project Phase 1 (PSIP 1).
The PSIP involves the design, financing and construction of about 9,296 one-story and two-story classrooms, with furniture, fixtures and toilets for 2,204 public elementary and secondary schools, in Regions 1, 3 and 4-A.
The school project has a total approved budget of P16.427 billion.
It aims to supplement the current program of DepEd in reducing classroom backlog.
Over 400,000 students are expected to benefit from this school project.
Under the PSIP 1 deal, the contractor covers major maintenance such as structural assessment, termite control and repainting of the school building within 10 years.
The construction contract was bagged in 2012 by two consortia: BF Corporation-Riverbanks Development Corp. and Citicore Holdings Investment Inc.-Megawide Construction Corp.
Meanwhile, the Education department said the second phase of the PPP school project had constructed at least 1,690 classrooms as of October 31 last year.
The PSIP 2, which will benefit the Cordillera Administrative Region, Region 1, 2, 3, X and 8, aims to construct 10,679 more classrooms.
The construction contract was bagged by Megawide and Consortium of BSP & Co. Inc and Vicente T. Lao Construction.
06 January 2016
By Neil A. Alcober
