Capitol contractors told to complete road projects on time

By: Gerome Dalipe

STATE auditors voiced concern over possible withdrawal of funding for the improvement of the farm-to-market roads in the towns of Leon and Dueñas and Passi City.

This after the Commission on Audit (COA) discovered that the contractors of the road projects in the above municipalities and one component city in Iloilo incurred work slippage.

The Iloilo Provincial Engineer’s Office had warned the contractors of the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP), the auditors said.

But the slippage of up to five percent continued despite the warnings, thus posing a risk of possible withdrawal of the PRDP funding support, the auditors said.

“The work suspensions or extensions due to circumstances were not considered in the computation of slippages that resulted in a higher rate,” read the COA report.

The PRDP is a 6-year national government platform for an inclusive, value-chain oriented, and climate-resilient agriculture and fisheries sector.

The projects under PRDP’s I-Build include the rehabilitation of Poblacion to Tacuyong Norte farm to market Road in Leon, Iloilo; rehabilitation of Imbang-Grande-Gemumua-Agahon,-Agtabo in Passi City; and rehabilitation of Tinucuan-Purog-Maribuyong in Dueñas.

But the above three projects continuously incurred negative slippages, the auditors lamented.

Pursuant to the PRDP’s operations manual, a “three-strike” rule will be implemented for unsatisfactory performance under the project.

The first warning should be given by the PRDP when there is a five-percent negative slippage, with a requirement for catch up plan to ensure completion of the project on time.

If a 10 percent slippage occurs, the contractors will be reminded that PRDP funding support will be withdrawn if slippage exceeds 15 percent.

A representative from Passi City told auditors the delays were incurred by the contractor due to scarcity of aggregate subbase course and limited quarry permit issued by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO).

On the other hand, the Dueñas town’s representative attributed the slippages due to the delayed execution of Portland Cement’s concrete pavement and delayed release of the 15 percent mobilization.

The municipalities said they informed the site project engineer in the respective sites on the slippage for appropriate action.

They have also sent warning letters and required the contractor to submit catch-up plans.

The contractors reportedly complied with the submission of catch-up plans, but remained unimplemented which resulted in continuous negative slippages.

In the report, the auditors asked the provincial engineers to identify the bottleneck of the subprojects’ implementation.

The contractors are then urged to formulate strategies to address the slippage and fast-track the project’s completion.