COA: LRT woes persist despite P1.3-B stimulus fund

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) has expressed dismay over the failure of the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) to improve its train services and address commuter complaints that flood media reports almost on a daily basis.

In a 2014 report released yesterday, state auditors said a stimulus fund of P1.314 billion was released in full to the agency in January 2014, yet none of the rehabilitation programs lined up for Lines 1 and 2 have been implemented up to now, allegedly because of project revisions.

“After more than a year since the fund was released, there was not a single significant accomplishment involving rehabilitation of System Lines 1 and 2,” the COA report stated.

With money released ending up unused for a long period of time, the grant of the Stimulus Fund became useless and the riding public bore the brunt of the oversight.

“The opportunity to address promptly the commuters’ complaints made known in daily news from radio, TV and newspapers was overlooked or lost,” state auditors noted.

“With the fund already made available for more than a year, we found no more significant reasons to further hinder the implementation of the projects,” the audit team said.

The COA report showed that based on a review of the multi-year projects of the LRTA for Lines 1 and 2 – programmed for funding with the P1.314-billion Stimulus Fund – several revisions on the type and kind of projects to be implemented caused the delay in implementation.

From the original line of projects submitted to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) on May 20, 2013, there were at least three revisions in the projects lined up.

In fact, the COA report said the Project Status Report as of March 31, 2015 showed that most of the projects were only in the stage of preparation of the Terms of Reference (TOR).

Of the 24 projects originally proposed and submitted to the DBM for funding, state auditors said 17 projects for Line 2 were implemented but using the discredited P1.867-billion disbursement acceleration program (DAP) fund.

The COA report said two projects in Line 1 were no longer included in the revised list of multi-year projects in view of the Concession Agreement on the Maintenance and Operations of Line 1 under the public-private partnership scheme undertaken by the DOTC.

Also, the 45 projects listed in the multi-year projects approved on Oct. 30, 2013 turned out to be entirely different from the original projects proposed to the DBM. 

State auditors said the multi-year projects as of March 23, 2015 showed two different projects for Line 1, including rail diagnostic facilities and equipment and overhauling of brake system for 3G trains totaling P304.310 million. 

For Line 2, there were three new projects included in the list in addition to the 14 projects retained and approved on Oct. 30, 2013.

State auditors said the failure to utilize the stimulus fund can also be blamed on the lack of careful planning and study, stressing that frequent changes in the projects for implementation entail realignment of funds requiring the approval of the DBM.

DAP-funded

In their report, state auditors raised possible irregularities in projects funded by DAP in 2012 and 2013, particularly for the “Systematic Replacement of Gantry Anchor Bolts at LRT 1 Revenue Line and Connecting Line” and the “Rail Replacement at LRT 1 Revenue Line,” amounting to P104.762 million and P269.051 million, respectively.

Allegedly, important documents have not been submitted to date and as a result, timely conduct of audit, legal and technical review could not be completed.

Furthermore, various deficiencies were noted in the documents submitted for audit, including information showing the period of action on procurement activities prescribed under the procurement law not being observed.

The COA report also noted expired and deficient documents used in the bidding processes. In one instance, documents furnished by a winning bidder showed deficiencies but were nonetheless determined as compliant with the requirements of the TOR.

State auditors said bidding was conducted for one of the projects on Feb. 16, 2012 yet the Tax Clearance Certificate submitted by Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) was valid only until Dec. 15, 2011.

The audit team said the winning bidder’s list of key personnel was composed of electrical engineers and linemen based on their submitted curriculum vitae, yet the TOR states that work shall be supervised by a registered civil or structural engineer.

State auditors said the names of the board of directors of KORAIL even differed from the names in the company profile and in the minutes of the firm’s 102nd board meeting.

COA also said the non-submission of documentary requirements needed for audit hindered the conduct of audit as well as legal and technical review of the contracts.

State auditors also said no payments have been made by the LRTA so far for the projects, which, as of Dec. 31, 2014, showed 44.26 percent and 41.56 percent accomplishment rate.

In its report, COA also directed the management to submit documents required in COA Circular No. 2009-001 and explain deficiencies noted by auditors.