COA: 14 DOTr projects worth P1.6 trillion marred by delays

At least 14 foreign-assisted Department of Transportation projects worth P1.6 trillion were marred with delayed implementation, the Commission on Audit (COA) said.

In its annual audit report on the DOTr for 2021, the state auditor noted that these projects were hit with the following problems:

• change in project cost
• procurement issues
• budget and fund flow
• design, scope and technical issues
• site condition/availability
• COVID-19, among other dilemmas

The delay-affected projects are:

• Maritime Safety Enhancement Project
• EDSA Greenways
• Cebu Bus Rapid Transit
• LRT Line 1 South Extension Project
• LRT Line 2 East Extension Project
• Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project Phase 2
• Metro Manila Bus Rapid Transit
• Metro Manila Subway Project
• MRT3 Rehabilitation Project
• New Bohol Airport Construction and Sustainable Environment Protection Project
• New Cebu International Container Port Project
• New Communications, Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management Systems Development Project
• North-South Commuter Railway System
• PNR Bicol Railway (South Long Haul) Project

"The most common issues encountered by the 14 foreign-assisted projects (FAPs) which caused further delays in the implementation of projects are budget and funds flow, limitations due to COVID-19, and project site condition/availability. Management and/or officers/personnel concerned  have already taken actions to resolve the issues or have prepared/set an action plans/measures to be undertaken to address the said projects ' concerns," COA said.

"The said issues, which resulted in prolonged/extended project implementation period and change (increase/decrease) in total project costs and scope, ultimately caused the restructuring of the following projects," it added.

As a result, the audit commission said, 12 of these 14 FAPs were restructured, except for the New Bohol Airport Construction and Sustainable Environment Protection Project and the New Communications, Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management Systems Development Project.

"It bears stressing that the issues encountered in the implementation of the projects should be immediately addressed to prevent further extension of services/project's completion/implementation period and consequently incurrence of additional commitment fees/charges in case of extension of the loan validity period," COA pointed out.

The COA then tasked the Project Management Offices (PMOs) concerned to regularly provide the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Monitoring and Evaluation Staff (MES) and the COA Audit Team with complete quarterly/periodic status reports of the FAPs physical status.

Likewise, COA also required direct and close monitoring of the execution of the action plans set to address current issues identified on each FAPs to ensure smooth and timely implementation  of projects and to avoid further delays.

In addition, state auditors obliged PMOs, officials concerned and other stakeholders involved in the procurement and implementation of projects to execute  measures  and exert best efforts for a prompt and timely completion of projects, or if not, minimize delays, and prevent incurrence of additional commitment fees.

DOTr's response

In response, the Transportation department said that for the rail projects, it has already instructed Rail PMOs to ensure timely provision of required quarterly/periodic status reports to the NEDA-MES and the COA audit team.

Moreover, DOTr said it has created a dedicated Monitoring and Evaluation unit for Rail Projects to facilitate the above, and that incurring commitment fees is not necessarily due to delay in project implementation, since commitment fees are necessarily incurred even for FAPs that are not delayed. — BM, GMA News