COA finds 17 unfinished projects in Cordova town

CEBU, Philippines — The Commission on Audit-7 has found 17 unfinished projects in the Municipality of Cordova from calendar year 2019 to 2021 amounting to ?57.764 million.

COA said these unfinished projects deprive the constituents of the socio-economic benefit that could have been derived from the use of these infrastructure projects.

Based on the Report on Government Projects, Programs and Activities (PPAs) for the quarter ending December 31, 2022 submitted by the Municipal Planning and Development Officer (MPDO) showed 17 ongoing or unimplemented projects with Approved Budget for the Contracts (ABCs) totaling ?57.764 million funded from prior years’ appropriations or financial grants received by the municipality.

These projects were already behind from its original target date of completion like the installation of a 29 units air conditioning system at the drug rehabilitation center; improvement of executive building; completion of drug rehabilitation building; construction of 4-storey 12-classroom school building in Brgy. San Miguel; construction of school building in Bangbang Elementary School; construction of material recovery facility (MRF) in Barangays Day-as and Buagsong; rehabilitation of historical tourism sites; installation of elevator at the Cordova drug rehabilitation facility; improvement of Cordova public plaza; road lot acquisition in Barangay Alegria; road opening of 270 meters from Barangay Catarman to Buagsong; road opening 300 meters from Barangay Day-as to Bangbang; road opening 150 meters from Barangay San Miguel to Bangbang Elementary School; construction of MRF in Barangays Gabi, Gilutongan, Ibabao and Dapitan; improvement of multi-purpose building (sports complex); expansion of level III water system for Barangays Day-as and Buagsong; and completion of community hospital.

Further review of the Report on Government PPAs disclosed that the following issues were encountered by the Municipality in the implementation of these projects.

Unavailability of lot/area where the MRFs will be constructed and road right of way in the construction of road opening and completion of community hospital.

On the construction of road opening and the completion of community hospital, the MPDO disclosed that some affected lot owners wanted to sell the road right of way to the municipality, and the latter is already working on its acquisition and committed to finish the projects as soon as possible.

Absence of provision of electrical connection from the 29 air conditioning units to panel board and structural frame for the installation of elevator at the Cordova drug rehabilitation facility.

COA said an inquiry with the OIC-municipal engineer disclosed that the municipality is now working on the completion of the projects.

The hydro testing and disinfection not yet conducted by the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD).

It said that the expansion of the level III water system project should have been completed on June 8, 2021. A delay of 571 days was already incurred as of December 31, 2022. This delay could have been avoided had the management diligently followed up the MCWD on its implementation.

On the improvement of the multi-purpose building – sports complex, COA stated that the OIC-municipal engineer could not disclose the reason for its delay as the OIC-Municipal Engineer just spearheaded the Municipal Engineering Office sometime in December 2022. Nevertheless, this project was funded from the CY 2020 Local Government Support Fund. The unexpended balance was already returned to the Bureau of the Treasury on December 18, 2022 despite non-completion of the project.

Moreover, seven projects with ABCs totaling ?15.900 million, namely: improvement of executive building, completion of drug rehabilitation building, construction of 4-storey 12-classroom school building in Brgy. San Miguel, construction of school building in Bangbang Elementary School, rehabilitation of historical tourism sites, improvement of Cordova public plaza, and road lot acquisition in Barangay Alegria, Cordova, were also delayed in their target completion as shown in the table above. The management has not yet commented on the reasons for its delays and if there were duly approved suspension orders since the projects were from the previous administration and the municipal engineer is still on-leave.

As regards to the on-going or unimplemented projects which were funded from the prior years’ appropriations, the management already ordered the municipal engineer to fast-track the completion of these projects. — (FREEMAN)