|
THE
World Bank board of directors has “unanimously” approved
the National Roads Improvement and Management Project
Phase 2, or NRIMP 2, and imposed several anticorruption
measures to ensure that the projected is shielded from
corrupt and colluding people.
Upon
recommendation of bank president Robert Zoellick last
November, the World Bank board held from stamping a seal
of approval in favor of the project.
“Not
only has the project been approved, but that it was
approved unanimously,” the bank’s country director for
the Philippines Bert Hoffman said during a joint World
Bank-Philippine government briefing in Makati City’s
financial district Wednesday.
World
Bank president Zoellick is impressed with the government
of the Philippines’ commitment to the roads project, he
added.
“The
World Bank board approval of this project is a
reflection of their confidence in the Philippine
government’s commitment to carry out road-sector
reforms. We believe that greater accountability and
transparency in government infrastructure projects which
are strengthened in NRIMP2 are necessary to ensure the
efficient use of public resources and bring greater
benefits to our people,” Finance Secretary Margarito
Teves said.
To
implement measures designed to keep the project from
corruption and collusion, the bank also approved a
provisional $232 million worth of loan to the Philippine
government for the NRIMP 2.
The
measures include an independent procurement evaluator to
increase transparency in the bidding process;
strengthening of audit controls; and the creation of
Road Watch or Bantay Lansangan, which will serve as the
independent project-evaluation group composed of
civil-society members headed by Transparency and
Accountability Network head Vince Lazatin.
“Aside
from government agencies like the Presidential Antigraft
Commission, National Economic and Development Authority
[Neda], Department of Justice, Department of Budget and
Management and the Department of the Interior and Local
Government, civil-society groups are very much a part of
this group. They also have the responsibility to monitor
government projects,” Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya
said during the briefing.
Meanwhile, the World Bank Department of Institutional
Integrity (INT) report on the alleged bid-rigging in the
NRIMP 1 has already been referred to the national
government and the bank’s evaluation and suspension
officer, who is in the process of determining whether
the report warrants the imposition of sanctions on the
firms involved.
Teves
assured that part of the other anticorruption measures
is the doubling of the budget for the Office of the
Ombudsman to strengthen its capability to go after
responsible individuals. This is, Teves said, one of the
reasons why the country recently became eligible for
higher funding from the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC).
Hoffman
added that any firm “implicated” in “bid-rigging” for
the first phase of the NRIMP is no longer allowed to
participate in the second phase.
Hoffman
also said the bank’s sanctions board is already in the
process of determining sanctions for those involved in
the alleged bid-rigging in the project.
“The
bank’s internal sanctions process is confidential, as
firms and individuals are considered innocent until the
bank’s sanctions board has reviewed the evidence and
made a final decision on the case. Bank management has
taken the decision that we will publish the sanctions
that are the final results of fraud and corruption
investigations in a timely, consistent and fair fashion,
balanced by the need to respect due process and not to
compromise ongoing investigations and legal processes,”
the bank said in a brief.
To date,
the bank has blacklisted more than 340 companies proven
to have been engaged in wrongdoing with other
bank-financed contracts.
On the
other hand, Andaya said that for the second phase of the
NRIMP, the World Bank has agreed to implement the
country’s rules on national competitive bidding, or NCB.
Hoffman
said the use of the NCB is a first for the bank, and
that the board is eagerly anticipating the outcome of
these efforts. He said using the NCB would impact even
the bank’s rules for projects in other countries.
Earlier,
the bank’s senior infrastructure specialist for
infrastructure cluster Ben Eijbergen told the
BusinessMirror that the reason the bank continues to be
involved in the project is because of the reforms set in
place by Manila. In his unit’s report, the bank said
corruption has been a major threat to the efficiency of
the project.
“We know
what we want and we know what we want to do. We have put
a lot of efforts and money into improving and upgrading
systems and strengthening the operation system of the
implementing agency. However, there is still a lot of
work to be done,” Eijbergen told the BusinessMirror.
Eijbergen added that bidding for the NRIMP 2 would be
based on the bank’s procurement rules. No other changes
had been made on the loan amount and other project
details. |
