ADB not pleased with RP use of ODA funds

The Asian Development Bank urged the Philippine government yesterday to improve the implementation of ADB-funded projects, saying its overall performance remained unsatisfactory.

An evaluation of the ADB’s Philippine program between 1986 and 2001 showed that problems could be traced to a number of factors, including "frequent internal and external shocks" to the economy, poor project design and implementation bottlenecks.

"Overall, its performance record places the Philippines below the performance average of all ADB’s borrowing member countries," said Vladimir Bohun, director general of ADB’s operations evaluation department.

ADB lending to the Philippines from 1986 to 2001 totalled $5.9 billion for 86 projects, the bank said.

Only 36 projects have been completed during the period, 31 percent of which were successful against the ADB-wide average of 51 percent.

Ten of the 12 unsuccessful projects, mostly in the agriculture and natural resources sector, were completed in the late 1980s, the Manila-based bank added.

The bank said it periodically prepares evaluations for borrowing member countries to assess the effectiveness and impact of its country programs. This was the first evaluation done on the Philippines.

The evaluation also found that ongoing projects in the Philippines were making less progress than most projects by other members.

The ADB needed to strengthen its planning of projects and screen them more closely, which should be helped by the recent reorganization of the ADB," said the bank’s country director Thomas Crouch.

"There are too many projects in the Philippines that are still rated below performance averages," Vladimir Bojun, ADB director general for operations evaluation department. "We have to be more selective and lower lending to align these to the absorptive capacity of the country."

The evaluation likewise noted that 10 of the 12 projects "unsuccessful" rated projects, mostly in the agriculture and natural resources sector, were completed in the late ’80s.

One of the few bright spots in the Philippine performance was noted in the last five years. The Philippines had been able to repay the ADB the amount of $423 million over the released amount for projects amounting to $230 million.

Nonetheless, the ADB’s recommendation was to start reducing the sizes of projects. It likewise said that the multilateral funding agency could prioritize programs or less programs than the previous years. That would also mean that the ADB was prepared to increase its share in the cost of the projects. – Ted Torres, AFP