Did P-Noy accept excuses for infra lag?

I got the impression from P-Noy’s SONA that he has accepted the excuses of his economic team for the failure to get PPP going faster. A day after, Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras told ANC that P-Noy was not giving excuses, just giving explanations. Sounds the same to me!

The President was candid enough to admit that “we faced difficulties when PPP began.” He blamed old studies and the real reason, “the bureaucracy lacked the sufficient knowledge to implement them.” Even with updated studies, wala pa rin… walang technical capability.

And because the public “seemed to have lost confidence in the contracts the government undertook,” P-Noy said they decided not to rush. He declared that “We have no plans of entering into questionable contracts today…  Each project has to go through the correct process to ensure that our taxpayers’ hard-earned money will be spent the right way.”

OK, we can all understand the intention to do it the right way. But experts I have talked to tell me the studies are not that outmoded, as in the Masinag LRT2 extension, for instance, a mere four kilometer extension. Daang Hari was already being implemented and 30 percent complete when they stopped PNCC and NDC from continuing so it could be made a PPP project.

I also note some amount of intellectual dishonesty when P-Noy said “we are seeing the effects of the honest, transparent, and clear way we have been going about our PPP projects.” He gave the impression PPP has taken off. Far from the reality!

 P-Noy cites Laguindingan Airport, which is already being utilized. Much as I have little respect for Ate Glue, she started that project. P-Noy’s administration completed it, but botched the completion… no air navigation facilities and no night landing lights… no public transportation to and from Cagayan de Oro.

And when he said “we are upgrading and modernizing the Tacloban Airport, the Bicol International Airport, the New Bohol Airport, the Mactan Airport, and the Puerto Princesa Airport all at the same time,” that’s not true either. None of the upgrades in those airports have broken ground. That’s what I have been complaining about for the longest time.

As for “the Daang Hari-NLEX link road is the fastest PPP project that has been awarded in any administration, with no shortcuts in the processes,” that’s meaningless. It was mired in problems between Ayala, DPWH and SLEX. They are barely resuming work from where PNCC and NDC left off. In fact, if they left the project alone, it would have been completed last year.

It is unfortunate, P-Noy was fed BS by some of his officials and he swallowed everything.

On NAIA 3, P-Noy cited legal problems. We all know that but in spite of that he did promise delivery in a year in last year’s SONA. DOTC Sec Jun Abaya had also been saying for months he was just waiting for Takenaka to sign a contract. It looks like he was ready to wait forever because I have not heard of a Plan “B” in case Takenaka further delays agreement.

P-Noy was not clear on what happens next beyond asking for our understanding on NAIA 3.

P-Noy exalted the importance of “the two connector roads that will join the North and South Luzon Expressways… so that traveling from one point to another need not consume the hours it takes to pass through the entire length of EDSA.”

But he pointed out a problem which I already mentioned in this column about a Marcos decree favoring PNCC unjustly.

“The problem: Mr. Marcos issued laws that favored one of his cronies. And unfortunately, we are required to follow them: Whoever constructs infrastructure in those areas must be in partnership with the corporation of Mr. Marcos’ friend. Even worse: every time they add even just another short section to the original road, their franchise is extended by 30 years…  I ask our Congress today: Let us take another look at Presidential Decrees 1113 and 1894.”

What happens now? Will we wait for Congress to repeal the offensive Marcos Decrees before giving the green light to the construction of the connector roads?

I texted Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima for clarification since it was Purisima who brought up this problem of the Marcos Decree. According to Sec Purisima, the connector road construction will proceed. He said Justice Secretary de Lima has issued an opinion that will allow the project to proceed.

The Finance chief sidestepped my question on how they will go around the Marcos Decrees to make this happen. Neither did he say when they plan to break ground. What he did say is that “the next step is for the President to sign the STOA for the Citra which clears the way for the Swiss challenge process of the MPIC project.”

There are two connector road projects, the one of Citra and San Miguel and the one of Metro Pacific or MPIC of Manny Pangilinan. If just one of these projects really get going, we have reason to be hopeful about alleviating the abusive traffic flow on EDSA.

I get the impression that the way to go around the Marcos Decrees without a congressional repeal is to build the highways to be just short of being connected to either NLEX or SLEX. This is how P-Noy described it in his SONA:

“We have an eight-kilometer, four-lane elevated expressway that will connect C3 road to Caloocan, crossing España, up to PUP in Sta. Mesa. There is also a more than 14-kilometer six-lane elevated tollway extending from Balintawak to Buendia in Makati.

“The common alignment of these two roads: a five-and-a-half kilometer, six-lane elevated expressway from PUP in Sta. Mesa, crossing Osmeña and Quirino Avenue, to Buendia in Makati.

“Once this road is opened to the public, what once took two hours from SLEX to NLEX will now take only 15 minutes. What once was a three-hour drive from Clark to Calamba will be reduced by almost half to an hour and 40 minutes.

“Every day, an estimated 55,000 motorists will benefit from this project. Motorists will save time and gas, pollution will be decreased, and commerce and tourism will flourish. Is this not a win-win situation?”

Well, I am glad P-Noy is convinced the projects are vital. But I am not sure just because he highlighted it in his SONA, his economic team will suddenly get a sense of urgency to deliver. Nevertheless, I am more hopeful now than before.

Water

I received this e-mail from Mark Dumol, the principal technocrat from the FVR watch, who was instrumental in drafting that water concession agreement.

Hi Boo,

I read with great interest your column today, particularly the section about the principles behind the MWSS privatization. I found the article excellent, especially your anecdotes about the bad old days when water service was intermittent.

 I must correct your statement, however, that the remaining role of MWSS, aside from rate regulation, is providing new sources of raw water. Without any doubt, the original intent of the MWSS concession agreement was that all aspects of the provision of potable water, from raw water sourcing to treatment to distribution would be the responsibility of the concessionaires.

In fact, this was debated on a lot during the bid preparation and it was the bidders themselves who strongly insisted that the concessionaires must be responsible for everything. Otherwise, how could they meet their obligation to distribute potable water if, for example, the government did not provide the needed raw water source on time (if the government had been made responsible for raw water).

While this was the original intent, this has unfortunately been happily forgotten as the MWSS has strangely asserted that it is the government’s responsibility to provide raw water and the concessionaires have obligingly agreed to let go of one of their most important obligations.

Why has the MWSS voluntarily decided to take on this obligation which would require it to seek huge financing, hire a lot of staff for a Project Management Office, design and bid out the project and then deal with big contractors and consultants? One can only guess why.

The original intent was that while the concessionaires handled all aspects of water sourcing, treatment and distribution, the Regulatory Office (RO) would handle the utility regulation while the MWSS itself would uphold the technical decisions of the RO, service its debt and preserve its remaining assets. I think that the MWSS and the concessionaires should be reminded of this.

Side effect

The Census Bureau said the birth rate in the United States reached an all-time low this past year. It’s another side effect of Viagra.

More women are running off with older men who have higher bank balances and lower sperm counts.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco