COA audits DOTr

Sabi na nga ba something was not right. Now the Commission on Audit (COA) has confirmed our suspicions about the ability of the Department of Transportation to get things done. It is not just the DOTr under Art Tugade, but also DOTC under Jun Abaya.

But since it has been two years since Mr. Tugade took over, the faults of Jun Abaya are now also his. At the very least, he is not seen as having done enough to correct some of the problems he inherited. He blames government procedures that take time.

Tugade may be well on the way to solving the driver’s license,  car plates, and maybe even the MRT-3 fiasco of Abaya, but there are also problems that are of his own creation.

One positive development on the MRT-3 rehabilitation and possibly in the construction of other commuter lines is the decision of Tugade to adopt the single point of responsibility principle in commissioning contractors. The chop chop mode of the Abaya DOTC is why LRT-2 extension to Masinag is proceeding very slowly.

Going back to COA’s audit report for last year, the DOTr was reported to have been unable to fully implement P46.6 billion worth of funded projects due to frequent changes in policy.

According to the COA, the changes in “policy directions by political leaders and economic managers” resulted in the failed or delayed implementation of 153 out of 159 DOTr projects last year.

“In view of the department’s unutilized allotments and cash allocations, timely delivery of its mandated services, particularly the improvement of road safety by expanding safe, affordable, and accessible public transport was not achieved,” COA reported.

COA pointed out a total of P700 million worth of projects for regional airport expansions and maintenance, supposed to be undertaken through public-private partnerships, were hobbled because of policy changes. Because Tugade cancelled a ready-for-bidding bundle of regional airports, DOTr is now back to square one, the conduct of feasibility project study for each of the airports.

The COA also cited a list of projects that were funded, but not implemented or only partially accomplished: the technical support consultancy project for the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit worth P2.4 billion; the P1.9-billion Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 2 east extension; the P1.4-billion LRT Line 1 north extension common station, and others.

Indecisiveness also resulted in DOTr putting on hold the Metro Manila Bus Rapid Transit Line 1-Quezon Avenue project, which had been provided a funding of P563.6 million. According to COA, this happened because officials supposedly could not decide on whether to push through with it.

On the Quezon Avenue BRT, it is just as well that it was not implemented. It doesn’t seem to be the right solution given the increasing number of commuters on this line.

The Cebu BRT is also a project that had been overtaken by commuter growth. It was unwise for the previous administration and the World Bank to have wasted so much money on studying the project for such a long time. It is obvious Cebu’s rather narrow streets provide little or no room for a BRT.

Not on the COA list, but still waiting for DOTr action is the rehabilitation of the NAIA, also a NEDA-approved project left over from the previous administration. There are now two unsolicited proposals to do the NAIA rehab waiting for DOTr to decide.

It is taking Tugade a long while to understand that two or even three airports for Mega Manila would be alright as is the case in New York, San Francisco, London among other mega metropolitan areas. We will still need NAIA for the next 15 years while a new airport complex is being built.

Now Tugade is hinting he wants government to undertake the NAIA rehabilitation, in other words, himself. Maawa naman sa madlang public. We are suffering enough for his inability to execute projects quickly.

 But Tugade can be decisive if he wants to. He managed to transfer DOTr’s head office from Ortigas to Clark in a matter of weeks even without a vetted plan and causing waste of government funds. As the website politics.com.ph puts it, “Dahil lang sa kapritso! DOTr quadruples HQ costs just because Tugade wants to spend more time in Clark.”

According to the audit agency, DOTr lacked a “structured transfer plan” before it relocated its office operations to the Clark Economic Zone and Freeport in Pampanga. As a result, DOTr’s total expenses have increased.

Because the move was made on a whim, taxpayers also lost P19.2 million in unrealized rentals from the 58 condominium units at its previous headquarters at Columbia Towers. COA observed the rentals could have been used to offset what DOTr spends to shuttle its employees from Manila to Clark.

 According to COA, DOTr is now spending close to P30 million for shuttle services for its employees. It has a 10-bus rental deal with Genesis Transport Service which picks up DOTr employees from six points to travel the 100 kilometers to Clark every day.

 Other increased annual costs attributed to the transfer cited by COA include: rent (up 278 percent to P50.9 million a year); communication (up 188 percent to P15.344 million); fuel and lubricants (up 379 percent to P11.682 million); and repair and maintenance (up 100 percent to P3.444 million).

 Tugade claims he did the transfer to set the example for other agencies to help decongest Metro Manila. It could have been done with more planning and foresight for the sake of taxpayers.

(Incidentally, if the plan is to eventually move government to Clark to decongest Manila as Tugade claims, why is the Senate and the Supreme Court constructing new office buildings at BGC?)

Because Tugade is responsible for a large part of BBB infra projects, we should all be very vigilant he gets his job done. Hopefully President Duterte gets very vigilant too about getting his Cabinet members to deliver.

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