176 China-Made Firetrucks Purchased By BFP 2 Years Ago Found To Be Defective, COA Says
The Commission on Audit (COA) said that the 176 out of 469 China-made firetrucks bought by the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) 2 years ago were defective.
COA has already released their annual audit report for BFP in 2016 and its observation on the government’s contract with the winning bidder, a joint venture between Hubei Jiangnan Special Automobile Co. Ltd. And Kolonwel Trading.
The agency reported that the 176 out of 469 firetrucks bought by BFP 2 years ago have faulty parts, but still distributed to Regions 1 to 13 as of December 2016. It also recommends the fire bureau to demand P52 million in damage from contractor including the delays upon delivery.
The 176 China-made firetrucks have defective engine relay, starter and ignition switch, leaking water pump gasket, malfunctioning transmission, and hand brake. Some firetrucks suffer from an easily-drained battery, oil leakage, low-level coolant, unaligned wheels, and damaged side mirrors.
107 trucks are still to be repaired by the supplier as of May 09, 2017, according to COA citing the report from BFP’s director for operation.
“The objective in procuring the fire trucks was to obtain a fast and reliable and efficient fire trucks. However, it appears that the said objective was not attained considering the defects noted in the delivered fire trucks,” said by COA quoted by Inquirer.
The market price of the firetrucks seems have not been considered in determining the approved budget for the contract. The fire truck’s price was set to be P6 million for 244 units of 1, 000-gallon trucks, while the other 225 units of 500-gallon trucks were supposed to be P5 million each.
COA also cited the firetrucks from Austria amounting P19, 617, 497.42 per unit has better quality and no defects have been reported until this present time.
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