DPWH said that infrastructure delays were caused by a lack of project studies and modifications were needed because many of the initiatives were included without preliminary studies.
The Department of Public Work and Highways (DPWH) announced that it has strengthened the processes for determining the feasibility of infrastructure works after being found to have contributed to delays in a number of projects.
The DPWH was questioned in the Senate Finance Committee on findings by the Commission on Audit that 3, 440 infrastructure projects were delayed by its failure to clearly establish feasibility or technical viability beforehand, Business World reported.
Senator Francis Tolentino said during the meeting that “the DPWH was not able to cite the technical viability of projects during the feasibility and preliminary engineering study, which resulted in delayed completion and non-implementation of 3,440 infrastructure projects worth at least P245 billion.”
He added that the auditors also concluded the DPWH completed only 1 out of 12 foreign-funded projects worth ₱1.151 billion.
DPWH Secretary Manuel M. Bonoan said,
“I can assure the good Senator that under my watch we would have a stricter planning process,”. “Other than the central office, we also have planning services at the district and regional levels.”
Meanwhile, Tolentino made the remarks in the context of a DPWH request for more funding for support functions like conducting project studies.
“You are asking for an increase of your support to operations (STO) budget for the fiscal year 2023 and one of the reasons for the increase is a ₱14.8 billion increase in the budget for the conduct of full-scale feasibility studies,” Tolentino said.
Bonoan replied, “I can assure you that the budget we are asking now for preliminary feasibility study and preliminary detailed engineering will substantially address the preparation of our projects in 2023, even at the district level.”
“For 2022, I think the budget proposal for preliminary feasibility study and preliminary detailed engineering was actually ₱15.82 billion but what has come out of the 2022 budget was a mere ₱1.17 billion,” he added.
“But this level of investment is necessary in order to provide the necessary budget for our operating offices to make the preparations,” the secretary continued.
The funding will support staffing for planning services at the district and regional levels.
“I understand that there had been some intervening reasons such as projects included in the 2021 budget that were for later release, and this is up for the approval of the Office of the President. It took some time for these to be processed and approved,” Bonoan explained the delays in completing and implementing projects in 2021.
He noted that the projects were funded by General Appropriations Act and require approval by the Office of the Secretary before making even small changes to project contracts. Also, he mentioned that modifications were needed since many of the projects were incorporated into the budget without preliminary studies.
Bonoan emphasized that “It took some time for the department to make the necessary preliminary engineering studies that are needed for actual contract execution.”
Further, Tolentino said that he has received reports that some district engineers would rely or delegate the function of planning to contractors, thus making the projects “contractor-initiated,” without regard for the real needs of the local government units or the field planning office of the DPWH.
Tags: #DPWH, #InfrastructureProjects, #delay