The rise in the cost of construction materials has affected the establishment of new school buildings in the province of Benguet, according to Dr. Mary Namuhe, division superintendent of the Department of Education.

“In fact, some contractors have abandoned work on several school buildings,” she said.

Three planned school buildings for the Benguet National High School in La Trinidad are among those abandoned after the cost of construction materials rose by an average of 100 percent over the past few months.

In Tublay, mayor Ruben Paoad said he required one contractor to produce a bank guarantee to ensure the construction of a two-storey building at the Tublay School of Home and Industries.

He said that from an average of P270, a piece of 16-millimeter iron bar now costs an average of P570 apiece while a 10-mm iron bar increased dramatically from P99 to P220 per piece.

The Special Education Development and Improvement Program of the DepEd has targeted the construction of at least 40 school buildings in Benguet since 2000, with a total allocation of P170 million.

Although the bulk of the amount comes from the national government, part of the funding had been provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and from the provincial and municipal governments themselves.

In Kibungan, it was learned that the municipal government under mayor Ben Siadto had to allot additional funding after the contractor of one school building almost abandoned the work due to hauling cost that ate up a substantial bulk of the budget.

Local contractors said that aside from steel materials, the cost of cement has been increasing since 2006 when contractors first warned against what they believed to be a cartel controlling the supply and prices of cement.

Local contractors’ project estimates made last year on costs have changed dramatically over the past several months, resulting in losses or in actual abandonment of work.