Can the government implement projects?

In the early 70s, there was a movie about the antics of a gang of ludicrously incompetent crooks at war with another mafia family who were also less than capable in the streets of Brooklyn.

The title of the movie is “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight.”

A similar movie about our bureaucrats who can’t properly implement projects would be appropriate.

Last year, DPWH inaugurated a 680-meter flyover at the corner of C-5 and Quirino Highway in Las Piñas. That would have been great except that DPWH built it in a way that interferes with the on-going construction of the LRT1 extension to Cavite.

DPWH should have known their flyover would pose problems, because the LRT1 plan was known and its detailed design finalized as far back as 2005. DPWH started building the C-5-Quirino Flyover project in September 2020.

Is it that difficult for the DPWH project engineer to call his counterpart at DOTr to exchange notes? But maybe they couldn’t resist an influential politician who wanted that flyover badly because it enhances the value of his property developments.

DOTr, on the other hand, should have raised the red flag when the DPWH contractor started mobilizing on that site but it didn’t. DOTr was sleeping on the job. Former Secretary Jaime Bautista told the media that the LRT-1 Cavite Extension could no longer run on its original alignment as the DPWH constructed a flyover in a segment where the railway was supposed to be built.

An unnamed DOTr official was quoted by Pilipino Star Ngayon as saying the project could be delayed by up to five years as they redesign a new alignment and incur an additional cost of up to a billion pesos.

I sent Sec. Jimmy a message to get his side but got no response. This is uncharacteristic of him because he used to respond within an hour of my Viber message.

I have a feeling that when Sec. Jimmy informed BBM about the problem, it hastened his exit from the cabinet. It was a clear failure of management and Sec. Jimmy had to take the fall out of command responsibility.

The good news is that Sec. Vince Dizon said before a group of economists last Wednesday that they found a quick solution to avoid the delay and they hope to deliver the next segment before the end of BBM’s term. He can’t say what additional costs will be. But it will have to be paid for by the government since it is not part of the PPP contract costs.

It was also wrong for DPWH to have prioritized building that flyover favoring cars and delaying the LRT1 project, to the detriment of millions of commuters who would benefit from the LRT1 completion.

The other rail projects are also not doing well. Sec. Vince Dizon said that serious right-of-way problems are delaying completion of all projects by as much as five years. Even in the alignment leading to Clark which is not crowded, DOTr has failed to secure all the ROW so their contractors can work.

Actually, even in the portion of the North South Rail Commuter project that will use existing PNR right of way, they have problems with informal settlers.

Sec. Vince told me that an Indonesian construction company that was awarded the contract to build a segment of the project two years ago is complaining.

The Indonesians said they have mobilized their construction crew who are now being paid doing nothing. They asked the secretary if there is something they could do.

The question comes to mind… Why did DOTr award portions of the projects that did not have a clear right of way?

That’s a waste of Filipino taxpayers’ money. That’s the same problem with the subway project. DOTr was so eager to have Duterte break ground that they awarded to contractors who now can’t do much because of right of way problems.

I don’t understand why JICA and ADB allowed DOTr to commence without a clear right of way. Indeed, it is the special provisions of the JICA and ADB funding contracts that created another serious right of way problem. JICA and ADB insist on paying everyone along the right of way including the settlers at full market value.

Our own ROW Law allows the government to take control of the property and the squatters relocated elsewhere.

And why did JICA agree to buy 25 tunnel boring machines supposedly to speed up project completion when there is no way they can use all 25 simultaneously?

I understand the most they can use is 18. Is JICA just interested in selling the expensive machines made in Japan which Filipinos will eventually have to pay for? JICA and ADB must help reduce costs if they truly want to help us.

The MRT3 Central Station is another example of DOTr’s failure to properly supervise. As a result, the project completion was much delayed and the project cost has significantly escalated. Someone should make a study of how much project costs have escalated on DOTr projects because of delays and bad supervision.

DOTr has had a horrible record even in the time of PNoy. Both Mar Roxas and Jun Abaya floundered badly in handling the MRT3 maintenance problems, the NAIA operations (NAIA became one of the world’s worst airports but Mar said the congestion at NAIA was a good sign of economic progress) and the LRT2 extension completion.

Right now, Sec. Vince is doing the right things like immediately firing the NAIA security employees trying to resurrect the tanim-bala scam. He should fire DOTr officials sleeping on the job in both LRT1, Common Station projects and ROW problems.

Hopefully, he can fix the mess he inherited from several predecessors. But even Sec. Vince says he can only do so much.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco