Catching up

At a press conference last Wednesday in Clark, DOTr Secretary Art Tugade admitted the LRT-1 extension project to Cavite is delayed. But he assured, they have a catch-up program that would enable them to meet a 2021 completion deadline.

Sec. Tugade gave no details and expect the people to take his word that they will be, able to catch up. Or maybe, Tugade is saying he will be able to partially deliver by 2021 the segment between Baclaran and Dr. Santos in Sucat where there is no right of way problem.

The problem with the project as a whole is the lack of right of way. The Aquino administration bought land in Cavite intended for ROW that was about five kilometers away from the alignment.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez also spoke of the NLEX-SLEX extension road project during the press conference. But it seems he was talking of the other extension road project, the one being undertaken by Metro Pacific. Sec. Sonny is right to point out that he was able to give the project the green light almost as soon as he took office.

An unexplained animosity of P-Noy with Manny Pangilinan (“baka masyadong yumaman si Manny”) made that proposal sleep during P-Noy’s term. That is unfortunate because like the San Miguel version, the road will greatly alleviate traffic congestion in Metro Manila.

But Sec. Sonny is wrong to say that Metro Pacific’s project is going smoothly after his green light. I found out that it has suffered at least a couple of snags that government officials must fix now to avoid further delay.

For one, PNR is unhappy it is getting nothing out of the deal that will use PNR’s right of way. The contract apparently failed to give PNR anything for the use of its land.

The PNR head stopped the project while he negotiates something for the rail company. He may have a point since PNR needs all the money it can get from its assets to be able to improve its own services.

This is the problem with government. It has mini kingdoms that the top bosses aren’t even aware of. The mini sultans apparently have the power to stop big national projects as they protect their fiefdom’s interest.

PNR also caused problems with the San Miguel connector road project when it refused to allow NGCP to move their poles to PNR land, as requested by the Toll Regulatory Board. The problem between two agencies (PNR and TRB), both under Sec. Art Tugade, remained unresolved for a long time.

I guess Sec. Sonny also doesn’t know the Metro Pacific connector road project has another problem that will eventually slow its execution. This problem involves the common alignment it has with San Miguel’s connector road project.

Because government had been unable to get the ROW needed by San Miguel, the faster alternative was to move the alignment to pass over the San Juan River. San Miguel hired a French company to do this part of the project, taking a portion of the alignment out of DMCI’s hands.

The problem is that the new San Miguel alignment is further away from Metro Pacific’s alignment over the PNR tracks. Unless government steps in to reconcile the two projects’ alignment, there will be more delays.

I noticed during the Clark event that the economic managers looked worried and frustrated about the public perception of little or no progress on the infrastructure projects. They were particularly defensive about why projects are delayed, blaming rules meant to safeguard government funds. 

That’s a good sign. But they must translate their worry to more attention to implementation details and greater transparency on status of projects. 

It is also only half true to say PPP projects take longer to execute. Most of the time, it is government that takes long to approve PPP projects.

NEDA officials don’t like PPP and take their time processing proposals. DOF also took a decade to approve MRT 7. But when the go signal to construct is given, PPP delivers fast and the Mactan Cebu Terminal 2 is a good example.

The time for general and self serving statements on the BBB projects is over. We need a public listing of the status of each project approved by NEDA and how the current status affects delivery date.

It would really help government’s credibility if there is one BBB czar whose job is to get into the details of implementation and troubleshoot causes of delay. Unless there is close monitoring of projects, only a miracle will enable them to deliver as promised and on time.

PITC

PITC wrote to clarify its involvement in the procurement of PNP equipment worth over a billion pesos which COA said was badly implemented... with many items still undelivered.

PITC emphasized that it only acted as PNP’s procurement agent and is PNP’s supplier. PITC procured those items in accordance with established procedures under the R.A. 9184 and its revised 2016 IRR – otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act.

PITC said it still has to rely on the PNP to provide clear, complete, sound, and updated terms of reference (TOR) for each project. PITC said it did not procure the Mahindra Patrol Jeeps for the PNP.

PITC also was unhappy about their experience as PNP procurement agent. PITC said it encountered various challenges and delays in the procurement of some of the equipment due to several revisions in the PNP TOR and failure of bidding due to non-compliant bidders.

PITC is washing its hands on the delayed delivery. It said that for those projects with clear and complete TOR, PITC successfully awarded and delivered Genetic DNA equipment, dental x-rays, 25 KVA gensets, 10 KVA gensets, laptops and computers. PITC claims they have been transparent in their transactions.

I guess the forthcoming Senate hearings will tell us the whole story.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco