Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon has formally signed an order seeking to lower the prices of various construction materials used in government projects, which he said will bring an estimated P60 billion worth of savings in the 2026 budget.
In a press conference on Monday, Dizon announced that prices for asphalt, steel sheet piles, gravel, sand, reinforced steel bars grade 60 and grade 40, cement, and ready-mix concrete will now be lowered and aligned with current market value prices, following the directive given by President Marcos.
He revealed through a presentation that for certain government projects, some materials were found to be priced higher than the market value by as much as 75 percent.
Dizon explained that this was based on the findings of a team led by Public Works Undersecretary Lara Esquibil who examined the prices of various construction materials in the market by checking with accredited suppliers, among other methods.
For asphalt, he noted that the average cost was P13,863.85 per metric ton when used in government projects. However, upon checking the market value, it was found that the material costs only P6,961 per MT, meaning that prices were raised by as much as 50 percent.
These prices vary per region, although most areas had prices higher than the market value, Dizon noted, with Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) having the highest variance between the cost of asphalt in government projects and the actual market price.
‘In Region 4-B, for example. in the projects we saw in Mindoro, P23,650 was the price of asphalt per metric ton. But based on what we saw in the market, it was less than P6,000. The variance was 75 percent,’ Dizon said.
Given a market price of P5,937, he noted that projects in Central Luzon had asphalt that cost P14,006.81 per MT. For projects in the National Capital Region, asphalt costs P13,938 per MT, while in Calabarzon it costs P13,525, and in the Bicol region it was priced at P12,731, all higher than the market value by more than 50 percent.
For steel sheet piles, the average cost in public works was P62 per kilogram, but it was found that the actual market value was only P40 per kg. Caraga posted the highest price for steel sheet piles at P85, which was 57 percent higher than the market price of P36.61.
Also higher than the stated market price were the steel sheet piles in Soccsksargen, which cost P76 per kilogram, Davao (P69), Northern Mindanao (P63), and Zamboanga (P61).
Gravel, another construction material, costs P1,014 per cubic meter when used in government projects, but its market price was found to be only P690. Caraga similarly had the highest price for gravel, costing P1,605.90 per cubic meter compared to the market value of P601.
Also higher than the market value were the prices of gravel in Mimaropa, where it costs P1,436 compared to the market price of P606; NCR, P1,138 compared to P590; and Western Visayas, P1,344 compared to P714.
Sand used in government projects had an average price of P951 per cubic meter, but it was found to only cost P650 based on current market value.
The material was most expensive in NCR, where it costs P1,314 compared to its market value of P450. This was followed by Caraga, with sand priced at P1,406, compared to the market value of P556, and Mimaropa, at P1,538, compared to P620.
On average, reinforced steel bars, grade 60, were priced at P54 per kg in government projects, while their market price was P37. On the other hand, reinforced steel bars, grade 40, was priced at P51.65 per kg when its market price was only P36.
Moreover, cement was priced at P236 for each 40-kilo bag when its market value was only P213, while ready-to-mix concrete cost P5,781 per cubic meter when its market price was P5,402.