The Commission on Audit has flagged the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for reportedly failing to establish the viability of 3,440 infrastructure projects worth P245.021 billion.
In its 2021 report, state auditors said this resulted in either delayed completion or non-implementation of the projects that include school buildings and farm-to-market road projects.
Of the total number of flagged projects, 437 worth P10.939 billion have not been started at all.
COA, which said the projects were contrary to the provisions of the Government Procurement Reform Act, cited several reasons in the report, such as typhoons, prolonged acquisition of road right-of-way, permits and clearances from other government agencies, and unsatisfactory performance of contractors, among others.
“Except for the COVID-19 pandemic and adverse weather conditions, the other identified causes of the delay in the implementation of infrastructure projects reflect the inadequacy of planning, supervision and monitoring of management relative to the project implementation,” the audit team said.
The audit team also underscored technical defects in 369 infrastructure projects with a total contract cost of P11.860 billion.
“Management of the DPWH offices concerned informed that the defects, deficiencies or undelivered items of works were already coordinated with the contractors concerned and assigned project engineers for the proposed corrections and rectification,” the audit team said.
For its part, the DPWH said it will comply with the recommendations of the audit team and consider the disqualification and blacklisting of erring contractors.
The DPWH said its offices will be required to submit reports, including pictures, once corrections are made.