Tuesday, March 4, 2014

DOTC making a liar out of P-Noy DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco (The Philippine Star) | Updated March 5, 2014



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DOTC making a liar out of P-Noy

DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco (The Philippine Star) | Updated March 5, 2014 - 12:00am
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DOTC Secretary Jun Abaya was rather defensive when he talked before the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) last week. He said: “While we have been criticized for the prolonged planning and procurement phases that our projects are currently undergoing, we strongly believe that our prudence today will pay off in the future.”
He went on to say that “We are taking every possible step to ensure that the next generation will not have to suffer from the same kinds of mistakes that we’ve had to untangle in the first half of this administration… For most of our projects, the simple truth is that there are plenty of steps that we need to take before we can implement them. 
“After clearly establishing the urgency of a certain project, we need to secure the necessary approvals and funding. (Boo’s note: not totally true because as in the case of MRT 3, P-Noy provided the funds which DOTC had to illegally freeze in LRTA so it won’t have to be returned to national fund. In Tacloban, DOTC had money for airport which DBM took back and converted to DAP for non use. For other projects, JICA and the private sector ever ready to fund but waiting for DOTC to make up its mind). We will also have to bid them out in a fair and transparent manner, and in the case of the more complex PPPs, this can take over a year to do…
“The President was elected into office to bring about progress and development, but also with the very specific mandate to do it through Daang Matuwid…”
OK. So that’s the excuse… Daang Matuwid. Actually, we can understand the need to do things right. But does DOTC need the whole term of six years to do that?
Can DOTC honestly claim they have started construction of a single major project? For that matter, have they been able to conduct a single successful bidding that had not been contested for one reason or another?
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PhilStar reader Jim Jamias sent me an e-mail and attached to it is the English transcript of P-Noy’s 2012 SONA. Here are portions of that SONA which we should not let P-Noy and DOTC forget:
“A large portion of our job-generation strategy is building sufficient infrastructure. For those who have gone to Boracay on vacation, you have probably seen our newly christened terminal in Caticlan. The plan to expand its runway has also been laid out. (Boo’s Note: the terminal was constructed by San Miguel and they are still eagerly waiting for government clearances to expand the runway).
“And we will not stop there. Before the end of my term, the New Bohol Airport in Panglao, New Legaspi Airport in Daraga, and Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental will have been built. (Boo’s note: promises, promises!)
“We will also upgrade our international airports in Mactan, Cebu; Tacloban; and Puerto Princesa Airport, so they can receive more passengers; in addition to remodeling the airports in Butuan, Cotabato, Dipolog, Pagadian, Tawi-Tawi, Southern Leyte, and San Vicente in Palawan.
“I am the fourth president to deal with the problems of NAIA Terminal 3. Airplanes are not all that take off and land here; so did problems and anomalies. Secretary Mar Roxas has already said: Before we convene at the next SONA, the structural defects we inherited in NAIA 3 will have been fully repaired. (Boo’s note: this didn’t happen in 2013 as promised in this SONA.)
“This June, the LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension project began to move forward. When completed, it will alleviate traffic in Las Piñas, Parañaque, and Cavite. (Boo’s note: LRT 1 Extension to Cavite had a failed bidding and has not moved.)
“In addition to this, in order to further improve traffic in Metro Manila, there will be two elevated roads directly connecting the North Luzon and South Luzon Expressways. These will be completed in 2015 and will reduce travel time between Clark and Calamba to 1 hour and 40 minutes.
“Before I leave office, there will be high-quality terminals in Taguig, Quezon City, and Parañaque, so that provincial buses will no longer have to add to the traffic on EDSA.”
Ok… Let us forget the airport projects because most of them won’t be completed before June 2016. P-Noy inaugurated Laguindingan but that was started by Ate Glue. Also, it is still not complete… no navigational aids. It had been re-named by locals as Di-Malandingan Airport.
Puerto Princesa, Panglao and Daraga are not in any high priority mode. Mactan has legal problems in its bidding process. Yolanda took care of Tacloban so what we have there now is a refugee tent. Nothing is happening with the smaller airports P-Noy said in his SONA will be remodeled… not even night landing facilities Mar Roxas promised.
The elevated expressway connecting NLEX to SLEX has just started, thanks to San Miguel/Citra and no thanks to the amount of time it took government to give the go signal. It can’t be finished by 2015 as P-Noy promised in his SONA. The portion from Makati to Malacanang is being rushed for APEC next year.
The bus terminals are still in the pre-bidding stage and given DOTC’s track record, we need to keep expectations low. DOTC may again make P-Noy a liar in saying these bus terminals will be delivered within his term.
The lowest hanging fruit ripe for picking four years ago is the four kilometer Masinag extension of LRT 2. DOTC announced only last week the awarding of the design portion to a Korean consortium. I can’t understand why this project is taking so long so I asked a source familiar with how DOTC operates. Here is his comment:
“The ‘bright’ boys of Roxas at DOTC have really injured the country – on this project and many others. The LRT-2 extension was one of the low-hanging fruits mentioned by the Philippine Constructors Association in 3rdQ of 2010. In fact, I was helping LRTA in 2009 prepare the bidding for it.
“Last December 2013, Usec Timmy Limcaoco was still holding on to the fantasy that the Detailed engineering works which they awarded to the Korean-led consortium can be completed in three months! By the way, to my recollection they disqualified everybody except this favored party.
“Only DCCD Engineering had the track record, as they were the local partners of Katahira on the original LRT-2 design. The bidding process for this took longer than usual – announced as far back as Dec 2012. More than a year for what usually takes 3-6 months.
“If the Roxas boys were stupid or incompetent, this length of time can be forgiven. However, I believe they are not stupid. So, the delay must be intentional – or perhaps, they have to clear all decisions first from the ‘real’ Secretary of DOTC – which is Mar Roxas (not Abaya).
“If intentional, for what purpose? To sabotage P-Noy’s program? Or to time the projects completion as close to 2016 election as possible so that Roxas could ride on the media mileage.
“If latter, their inexperience on infra is their undoing – 20 months to complete construction from Notice to Proceed, plus six months (do-able, if DPWH; impossible if DOTC) to bid, and 6 months for engineering works of the Korean (allegedly). That adds up to 32 months from March 2014.”
Actually, the day before DOTC announced the award, I got this e-mail from a reader, Arch JQ which corroborates the views of my informed source.
  “I know for a fact that the bids for LRT2 was submitted and have been opened by the DOTC way back July of last year. Sometime first week of December 2013, I was told by one bidder that after the completion of the bid evaluation by the DOTC, they were verbally informed that the project is going to be awarded to them.
“Mind you, when the TOR of the project was released, the bidders were only given 30 days to prepare and submit their bids with the opening and evaluation taking place within a week. This is due to the timetable that they gave which will have the project’s supposed completion date just before the 2016 administration comes in!
“Many bidders scoffed at the timetable provided in the TOR but went along since the Bid and Awards Committee insisted that the schedule be strictly complied with. In truth, most of the bidders doubted very much whether the project can be awarded before the end of 2013 and this has come to pass!
“Somehow, somewhere, there is something wrong how DOTC is going about their project bidding. What are they waiting for? Is there something cooking under some mango tree somewhere?”
The delays in DOTC projects are due to Daang Matuwid, according to Sec Jun Abaya. Why am I now hearing suggestions that other reasons contrary to Daang Matuwid may be at play?
Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco
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