ALA NEWS
RISING FROM THE ASIAN CURRENCY CRISIS OF 1997
Chart 1 exhibits the resiliency of ALA despite the economic down trend for the past 7 years since the Asian currency crisis in 1997. This resiliency could be attributed to the trust and confidence earned by ALA from its clients through the years.
LOOKING AT ITS WORKS
Chart 2 shows that the bulk of ALA 's revenue came from road and bridge projects. To date ALA has designed and supervised the construction of more than 6,600 km of roads and more than 1,300 bridges. The table below shows the summary of ALA 's projects.
PROOF OF CLIENT'S CONFIDENCE ON ALA
The award of the contract for advisory services on the National Road Improvement and Management Project (Phase 1) is a monument to the expertise and trustworthiness of ALA. The services are for the supervision and review of the works by international consultants employed by the Department of Public Works and Highways. This consultancy services started in 2001 and is still ongoing. The consultancy cost is P 46 million.
Another proof is the award of the contract for the provision of the Design Support During Construction of the Sixth ADB Retrofitting Project, which were designed by other domestic consultants who are now to be supervised by ALA.
| Composition of ALA 's Consultancy Works | |||
| Project Category | % of Total Amount |
No. of Projects | Contract Amount (P million) |
| Roads and Bridges | 83% |
61 |
665 |
| Buildings & towers | 9% |
77 |
70 |
| Site Development | 5% |
22 |
41 |
| Water, Sanitation & Portworks | 3% |
22 |
25 |
| Total | 100% |
182 |
801 |
Chart 3 shows ALA 's experience in terms of number of projects undertaken:
| Recently Completed Projects | |||
| Project Name | Description/Scope of Work | Location | Consultancy Cost (P million) |
| Partido Water Supply System Project, Phase I | Construction supervision and review of construction drawings/specifications for the water supply system of ten municipalities of Partido. Bid Documents for the operation and maintenance of the completed systems were also prepared. | Partido District, Camarines Sur, Philippines | 2.000 |
| Pre-Investment Study and Bid Documents for NAIA Expressway Project | Preparation of the financial model for the chosen contractual scheme as well as the corresponding bid documents including performance specifications | Metro Manila, Philippines | 5.600 |
| Austrian Assisted DPWH Bridge Construction/ Replacement Project | Detailed engineering design of substructure and approaches for 41 bridges all over the Philippines . | Philippines | 23.500 |
| Restoration of Sta Maria Church | Architectural and detailed engineering design for the restoration of the church. | Sta Maria, Ilocos Sur, Philippines | 2.500 |
| Restoration of San Andres Church | Architectural and detailed engineering design for the restoration of the church. | Masinloc, Zambales, Philippines | 2.500 |
| Local Government Units Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project,(Output Based Aid Project) | Preparation of financial model and bid documents including performance specifications for the proposed water supply system of Metropolitan La Union | La Union, Philippines | 0.900 |
| Investigation of Aggregation Models in the Provision of Water and Sanitation Services | Determination of the drivers and constraints in the aggregation of water and sanitation services in the Philippines . | Philippines | 0.370 |
| TOTAL | 37.370 | ||
| Ongoing Projects | |||
| Project Name | Description/Scope of Work | Location | Consultancy Cost (P million) |
| Sixth ADB Road Project, Bridge Retrofitting Component | Construction supervision of the retrofitting works on about 60 bridges | All over the Philippines | 75.000 |
| National Road Improvement and Management Project, Advisory Services for Phase 1 | Advisory services on the feasibility studies, and detailed engineering design for the road upgrading program of DPWH. ALA serves as reviewer of the works of foreign consultants engaged by DPWH. | All over the Philippines | 46.000 |
| ADB/9 Laos Rural Access Roads Project | Construction supervision of all phases of work, including training of local engineers. | Laos
|
6.048 |
| Sixth ADB Retrofitting Project | The services are for the redesign of components of bridges that may be affected by changes in site conditions or other factors not anticipated during design. The project covers about 400 bridges. | All over the Philippines | 25.000 |
| Restoration of the San Agustin Church | Architectural and detailed engineering design for the restoration of the church. | Poay, Ilocos Norte, Phil. | 2.500 |
| Restoration of the La Immaculada Conception Church | Architectural and detailed engineering design for the restoration of the church. | Eastern Samar, Phil. | 2.000 |
| Restoration of the Patrocinio De Sta Maria Church | Architectural and detailed engineering design for the restoration of the church. | Boljoon, Cebu, Phil. | 4.500 |
| Restoration of the San Raymundo de Penaforte Church | Architectural and detailed engineering design for the restoration of the church. | Cagayan, Phil. | 2.000 |
| Restoration of San Isidro Labrador Church | Architectural and detailed engineering design for the restoration of the church. | Siquijor, Phil | 3.400 |
| SSS Building | Comprehensive architectural and detailed engineering design for four-story office building. | Cebu City, Phil. | 3.000 |
| TOTAL | 169.448 | ||
More About the
Recently Completed Projects
1. Partido Water Supply System Project, Phase I
This project was completed in late 2003 at a cost of about P 771 million. It provided the water supply systems of ten (10) municipalities of Partido District in the province of Camarines Sur , Philippines . The systems included spring intake boxes, river intake structures, treatment plants, balancing reservoirs, transmission lines, distribution networks, and service connections including metering.
The treatment plant clarifiers for the four municipalities supplied from rivers are "Multiflo". These are made of concrete basins provided with lamella plates, which significantly reduced the area requirement of the clarifiers. The operation of the plant is automated by PLC. The other municipalities were provided with pressure filters. The capacity of the treatment plants for river water ranges from 36 to 288 m 3 /h.
The project was contracted out to Kruger Partido Water Consortium (a consortium of Danish and a domestic firm) for the design and construction and to ALA for reviewing the construction drawings prepared by the contractor and inspecting the quality of materials and workmanship.
ALA was also engaged to prepare the bidding documents for the procurement of an "Operation and Maintenance" contractor. The outputs of the engagement were:
- Prequalification Documents
- Bid Documents with Draft Operation and Maintenance Contract containing performance specifications
- Financial Model for the computation of indicative water tariff
- Indicative Water Tariff for different tariff adjustment schemes.
2. Pre-Investment Study and Bid Documents for NAIA Expressway Project
This P 10-billion project is a 5 km elevated 4-lane expressway designed to shorten the travel time to and from the Philippine's premier international airport. It would connect the Manila Skyway to the 3 terminals of the airport and to Roxas Boulevard . Three contract packages were awarded last October 2003 for the construction of Phase 1 of the project that would provide the connecting ramps to the Manila Skyway. Phase 2, which would start from NAIA Terminal 3 and terminate at Roxas Boulevard , would be implemented through a BOT contract.
The pre-investment study for implementation of the whole project was awarded to ALA in late 2001 and was about to be completed in 2002 when its implementation was aborted. The financial viability indicators then turned out to be unattractive. Moreover the toll collection arrangement with the operator of the Skyway could not be obtained. The latter was seen to be most crucial since no bidder would participate without a concrete basis for computing revenue.
One of the most challenging tasks in the proposed BOT scheme was the choice of the suitable location of the tollbooths. Two important opposing criteria must be satisfied. The first was to insure 100% toll collection while the second was to avoid closely spaced tollbooths that may create traffic congestion and thus defeat the objective of the Project. The location of the tollbooths (as indicated in the drawings supplied) was found to be unsatisfactory with respect to the first criterion. Alternative locations were proposed.
The outputs of this consultancy contract were:
- Report on the evaluation of the adequacy of the feasibility study, the traffic forecast and the environmental impact assessment as well as a recommendation on the appropriate contractual arrangement and bid parameter.
- Prequalification Documents
- Bidding Documents with Design and Performance Standards and Draft Toll Concession Agreement
- Financial Model for the computation of indicative toll rate
- Indicative toll rate.
3. Austrian Assisted DPWH Bridge Construction/Replacement Project
This project was part of a nationwide bridge construction/replacement project which was awarded to Waagner Biro Philippines, Inc. Out of about 125 bridges, 41 were awarded to ALA for the detailed engineering design of substructure and approaches.
The bridges were so selected and designed to allow the use of Austrian modular two-lane steel bridging technology for single spans of 30 to 60 meters in 5-meter increment. Modular continuous truss bridges were used for multi-span bridges up to 300 meters long.
The services were carried out under the Task Concept, an arrangement in which the Consultant manages the design works with full responsibility to Waagner Biro Philippines, Inc for engineering adequacy and quality of end products within the scope of services specified in the Contract. The scope of services include all the topographic, hydrological, and geotechnical surveys as well as the structural computations for the design of the abutments, piers and approaches to the bridge.
The outputs of the consultancy services were:
4. Restoration of Sta Maria Church
Sta. Maria Church is one of 26 Spanish-built churches, which have been nominated for restoration and adopted as the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Flagship Project of the Millennium by the Sub-Commission on Cultural Heritage Committee on Monuments and Sites.
To date the NCCA has commissioned ALA to undertake a detailed engineering study for the restoration of 7 priority churches one of which is the Nuestra Señora dela Asuncion Church in Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur. The Augustinian built the church in the 18 th century. In 1994, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared this church structure as a World Heritage Site.
The Sta. Maria Complex (the church structure, the detached bell tower and the Assunta Convent) is perched on top of a hill. The church is accessible through a flight of steps or through the sloped driveway at the rear side of the complex. Because of the need for a wider flat church ground on top of the hill during that time, a massive enclosure or retaining wall to keep the earth fill in place was constructed.
Centuries of neglect, collective seismic related stresses and soil erosion due to the function-failure of the old drainage system took its toll on the retaining walls and caused numerous alarming cracks on the said walls.
ALA recommended construction of similarly massive lower terrace masonry retaining wall to support and prevent further damage on the existing high retaining wall. Similarly, the drainage system was improved through the provision of the network of sub-surface drains with weep holes and provision of layer of sub-base material and layer of clayey top soil over the entire church complex ground to minimize water penetration into the ground.
Through passage of time, the detached bell tower leaned slightly towards the cliff-side of the hill. ALA recommended the injection of jet grouts into the soil foundation of the bell tower to increase its soil bearing capacity and prevent the bell tower to lean further.
The outputs of this consultancy service were the following:
- Design reports containing ALA 's findings and recommendations
- Documentary drawings
- Restoration drawings
- Drawings for civil, sanitary, and electrical works.
- Technical specifications and quantity take-off
- Bidding documents
The church perspective drawings shown here exhibits ALA 's competence in drafting works, which earned for it the award of five (5) more churches.
Local Government Units Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project,(Output Based Aid Project)
The project consists of the preparation of the process and bid documents for the selection of a Private Sector Operator for the design, repair, rehabilitation , construction, leasing and operation of newly Constructed Water Systems in the five municipalities comprising the Metro La Union Water System. Project design follows the Output Based Aid format.
ALA provided the advisory services in bidding and selection of private contractor for new water systems of five local government units comprising the Metro La Union Water system. Economic, financial, technical, social and environmental assessments were conducted as part of the advisory services.
The outputs were (1) reports containing ALA 's recommendations, (2) bidding documents and (3) financial model for the computation of indicative bid water rate.
Investigation of Aggregation Models in the Provision of Water and Sanitation Services
The project is a research on various aggregation models for the provision of water and sanitation services. The study has three components: (1) Literature review and interim report on models, drivers and constraints to aggregation, (2) Series of six case studies to gather a more detailed perspective on aggregation, and (3) Final report that will combine those two types of findings in a guidance document for policy makers at various levels of government.
In the case studies conducted, ALA found that economies of scale were attained in most models in the Philippines . However, the economies of scale were insufficient to bring down the water tariff to a level that will attract private investors. This is so because of widely dispersed population requiring longer distribution pipeline per household. The need for government subsidy and lower design standard were noted.
