Sans master plan, town council rejects P495M drainage project

CEBU, Philippines - The proposed construction of a P495-million drainage system in the municipality of Daanbantayan had no master plan yet when it was endorsed by the Municipal Development Council for World Bank grant funding, prompting the council to reject it.

The MDC endorsed a total of P885 million worth of development projects, to be funded by the WB-Support for Strategic Local Development and Investment Projects (S2LDIP) program, to the municipal council on November 12, 2014.

On February 2, 2015, the Bids and Awards Committee declared the proposal of Hydronet Consultants, Inc. for consultancy in preparation for the Daanbantayan Drainage Master Plan in the amount of P3,485,000.

Mayor Augusto Corro on February 4, 2015 issued the Notice of Award to the firm’s managing director, Dr. Danilo Jaque.

During the 888 News Forum at Marco Polo Plaza yesterday, town councilors Rex Novabos, Jupiter Roy Rosell, Samuel Moralde, Juanito Ybañez and Bregidorietta Tancawan showed a copy of the BAC resolution and Corro’s letter to support their claim that the projects have no detailed plan when MDC presented the projects for approval.

They said the proposed projects submitted to them relative to the WB-S2LDIP would have been approved had the MDC resolutions undergone careful planning and study. 

They said the resolutions cited projects that cannot be justified and reasons that failed to convince them with the goal of protecting the people of Daanbantayan.

“In our opinion, the projects proposed were premature and, apparently, had inaccuracies,” reads a joint statement.

The councilors claimed they were not briefed of the said MDC resolutions before these were presented to them, prompting them to defer actions to avoid oversight and study the proposals.

“The plans were not detailed or lacked program of works, which made these all the more lack substance,” they said, pointing out the absence of feasibility study to ensure viability of the projects.  “Please note that the World Bank will no longer finance the projects not completed after April 2016, so what happens then?” they further asked.

Aside from the drainage project, other projects include the purchase of heavy equipment, relocation of municipal hall and wet market, rehabilitation of old public market, and the modernization of rural health unit and water treatment facilities, among others. — (FREEMAN)