DPWH told: Ban erring contractors

DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

A lawmaker on Tuesday urged Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson to ban private contractors that have a chronic record of building state infrastructure projects way over the agreed budget.

Camarines Sur Representative Salvio B. Fortuno said Singson should apply the “carrot and stick” in cleaning up the government’s list of contractors: punishing those who have incurred cost overruns while rewarding those that have kept within their contract price.

“I think it is now time for DPWH to blacklist contractors with numerous and high cost overruns. We also recommend that those who helped us save on project cost should be commended,” said Fortuno in an interview with reporters.

Fortuno said the Commission on Audit (COA) has identified over P10 billion in cost overruns over the last 10 years from  a number of foreign-funded public works projects.

The COA said some projects implemented between 2008 and 2010  bankrolled by  Overseas Development Assistance saw their costs shoot up. Gil Cabacungan