In law, this is a common phrase: Justice delayed is justice denied. In, monitoring projects this could be a common phrase: project delayed is progress denied.
There are three, major projects in Tacloban City and
Babatngon experiencing delays. These projects are the Tacloban Airport Development Project, the Tacloban Causeway Project, and the Babatngon Transshipment Hub with a combined amount of around 12 billion pesos.
The Tacloban Airport is already in Phase III but there are still delayed components from Phase I. The Tacloban Causeway is delayed with a negative slippage of -10, and the implementation of the Babatngon Transshipment Hub has been suspended since August 29, 2024, because it is still undergoing DENR permit application. The project started without an Environmental Compliance Certificate from DENR.
The economic benefits that are supposed to start accruing when these projects are completed are sadly put off. Employment generation and increases in family incomes are postponed. These targets are estimated in the feasibility studies of these projects and are expected to be in thousands in employment and millions of pesos in income.
These delays could have been avoided had the implementing agencies been more careful in the selection of contractors and in the preparation of documents essential to successful implementation.
The Babatngon project is due for completion on June 10, 2026. With the delay, this could be completed in 2027 or four years from now. To be able to look at the overall picture, the Regional Project Monitoring required the presentation of the Master Plan for this project. There could be other components that could further delay the start of project operations.
This sense of complacency and slow-moving implementation has caused and is causing many delays in the implementation of key projects. Name a project and it is usually suffering or has suffered delays for reasons which could have been avoided.
There is even that nagging suspicion that the accomplishment reports are bloated to hide the delays and negative slippages. Whatever the reasons, these are ultimately revealed based on the date of completion compared to the original completion dates.
In conclusion, it is very difficult to comprehend why these projects are delayed. I am leaning toward the idea that these delays are caused by negligent public officials who are simply lazy and contractors who have a thousand ways to keep on being delayed but still avoid termination or any effective penalty from the government.
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