COA flags P60-B delayed projects of DPWH     

FLAGSHIP PROJECTS President Marcos looks at a diorama of major infrastructure projects during his visit to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Central Office on June 23 for its 125th anniversary. With the President are DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan and Senior Undersecretary Emil Sadain. —PPA POOL

The Commission on Audit (COA) took the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to task for failing to “efficiently implement” more than 2,000 locally funded projects worth more than P60 billion.

Despite its “long years of exposure and experience” in project implementation, the COA scored the DPWH for failing to professionally address issues that other government project implementers and private-sector engineers manage to surmount.

“Except for the COVID-19 pandemic and adverse weather conditions, the other identified causes of delay in the implementation of infrastructure projects reflect the inadequacy of planning, supervision and monitoring of management relative to the project implementation,” the report stressed.

Of 2,395 projects, a total of 1,798 projects amounting to P60.07 billion were not finished or completed within the specific contract time or completion date, while 413 of these projects worth P27.47 billion were suspended.

A total of 90 projects, with costs totaling P5.11 billion, were either terminated or up for termination, while 94 others, costing P3.55 billion, were not even started in 2022 as scheduled.

These “significant delays” in the projects were apparently caused by numerous suspension orders, time extensions and variation orders by the DPWH offices, according to state auditors.

‘Inadequate planning’

This was due to the “inadequate planning, detailed engineering, supervision and monitoring” of the projects that resulted in its delayed completion and nonimplementation, the annual audit report said.

Worse, professional DPWH engineers and project consultants claimed they “were not able to consider” some factors during the preliminary engineering study on the viability of the projects.

Factors cited by the DPWH include unfavorable site conditions caused by adverse weather conditions; road right-of-way issues; relocation or obstruction of public utilities and communication facilities; slow or unsatisfactory performance of contractors; restrictions by the COVID-19 pandemic; among several others.

The audit team recommended that the DPWH offices ensure full coordination with other government agencies “to achieve effective and more synchronized planning and implementation of programs and projects.”

It also told the DPWH to consider the disqualification and even blacklisting of contractors involved and initiate a takeover process for the terminated projects to ensure the completion.

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