MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out 15 national government agencies (NGAs) and 34 state universities and colleges (SUCs) over delayed, unimplemented and defective infrastructure projects for 2023 totaling P242.19 billion.
In its “2023 Annual Financial Report for the National Government” released last Dec. 2, the COA said that as of Dec. 31, 2023, various infrastructure projects by NGAs with an aggregate cost of P239.82 billion and by SUCs with aggregate cost of P2.37 billion were either “not executed in accordance with the plan,” “with noted deficiencies,” “unutilized or not fully utilized,” “not completed on time” or “not completed at all.”
The COA said these existing conditions “may result in waste of government funds or delayed enjoyment of project benefits.”?The audit body said the delays were mainly due to the NGAs and SUCs’ “poor planning, inadequate detailed engineering, inefficiency in monitoring and supervision of project implementation, non-observance of the provisions of contracts/ agreements, delayed or long procurement process, and lack of coordination with LGUs (local government units) and other agencies concerned.”
The Department of Public Works and Highways was identified as responsible for the bulk of the delayed, unimplemented and defective projects, consisting of 3,047 locally funded projects with an aggregate cost of P131.569 billion.
The COA said this was on top of 17 foreign-assisted projects with an aggregate cost of P84.411 billion, which were also delayed or uncompleted, as evidenced by the negative slippages (the difference between target accomplishment and actual accomplishment) ranging from 0.78 percent to 36.60 percent and increased project costs.
Furthermore, the COA said 828 infrastructure projects undertaken by DPWH were not executed in accordance with the plans and agreed terms of the contract, “thereby resulting in various technical defects equivalent to a total amount of at least P343,524,212.86.”
Meanwhile, “prolonged project timeline” and delays in completion were also observed in locally funded and foreign-assisted infrastructure projects implemented by the Department of Transportation Office of the Secretary (DOTr-OSEC) with an aggregate contract cost of P8.714 billion.
Among the delayed DOTr-OSEC projects identified in the audit report were the MRT3 Capacity Expansion Projects; MRT3 – Structural Retrofitting and Monitoring Project for the Retaining Walls between Buendia Station and Ayala Station, which was identified as “high priority” and DOTr-MRT3 Design, Supply and Installation of the Ventilation System at the MRT3 Depot.
Also with delays in implementation were the Unified Grand Central Station (Area A); EDSA Greenways Project and Cauayan Airport Development Project (repair of runway pavement and drainage system).
The Land Transportation Office, an attached agency of the DOTr, meanwhile, was called out for the long-overdue implementation of the Land Transportation Management System with a project cost of P8.227 billion.
Also called out was the Department of Health over its delayed, unimplemented and unutilized projects with an aggregate cost of P2.831 billion under its Health Facilities Enhancement Program and the Philippine National Police over terminated and suspended projects totaling P1.22 billion.
Other NGAs called out for the delays and other deficiencies in implementation of their respective infrastructure projects were the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (P1.166 billion); Office of the Ombudsman (P498.59 million); Department of Social Welfare and Development (P352.62 million); Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (P200 million); Philippine Sports Commission (P170.63 million); National Economic and Development Authority (P168.58 million); Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (P100 million); National Meat Inspection Service (P50 million); Philippine Carabao Center (P46.46 million); Department of the Interior and Local Government (P23.97 million) and Office of the Civil Defense (P12.79 million).