By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

Commonwealth Ports Authority has terminated the contract of its consultant Carlos Salas until end of next month and has offered him a lower rate for a per project basis.
CPA Executive Director Clyde K. Norita said during the board’s special meeting on Thursday that Salas had accepted the offer.
“The board approved an hourly rate of $80 for consultant Salas after his last day on April 30 and we’re happy that he has accepted the new offer which will benefit CPA,” Norita told Variety.
Salas, a former CPA executive director, retired in Dec. 2005 to avail of the 30 percent bonus. He was hired later by CPA as its consultant for $6,600 a month.
“He is currently working on the instrument landing system for Tinian and he will be done by April 30,” Norita said. “If we feel we need his service on the same project after that date, we will tap his service.”
Norita said in preparing for the 2006 audit report, CPA may again seek Salas’s assistance.
“Because he’s been here for years at CPA and we believe that he can give us some insights into the report,” Norita said.
He added that under the new arrangement, there will be “no obligation for specific time or hours” for Salas.
“Majority of the contracts we have at CPA are all subject for automatic renewal every year which we find non-beneficial to the agency,” Norita said. “We are working on changing the language of the contracts and set a uniform format that will give us more leverage in the way we work with our consultants.”
CPA, he said, now prefers an hourly feasible rate or per-project agreement with its contractors and consultants.
CPA pays approximately $2.5 million annually to its professional and engineering consultants.