The national government plans to restructure four official development assistance (ODA) projects this year following delays in their implementation due to procurement problems, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
Based on the 2014 ODA Portfolio Review, the Neda said the four projects are the Environmental Development Project; Logistics Infrastructure Development; Support for Strategic Local Development and Investment Project; and Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Communities Phase III (Arisp III).
“Based on the series of agency consultations conducted as part of the review process, [these] projects were identified as most likely to seek ICC [Investment Coordination Committee] approval for project restructuring in CY [Calendar Year] 2015,” the Neda explained.
The Environmental Development Project and Logistics Infrastructure Development are implemented by the Development Bank of the Philippines and financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).
The Neda said the Environmental Development Project will be restructured to make room for the extension of the project’s loan-disbursement schedule.
The report stated that this extension will address policy and documentary compliance of approved sub-loan accounts, which are part of DBP’s due diligence procedure.
The Logistics Infrastructure Development project, meanwhile, would require restructuring due to the delays in the bidding of some of its public-private Partnership (PPP) components.
“As some PPP subprojects, which availed of sub loans have started to pick up with their bidding only recently, a request for the extension of the loan may be necessary,” Neda said.
The Support for Strategic Local Development and Investment Project, meanwhile, is implemented by the Land Bank of the Philippines and financed by the World Bank. This project will be restructured through an extension of the loan because of delays in the approval of the change in cost sharing to 10-percent loan and 90-percent national government grant.
The Arisp III project, meanwhile, is being implemented by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and also financed by Jica.
The Neda said the DAR requested for a four-month extension in the project implementation due to delays caused by limited manpower to handle remaining works of the central, regional and provincial levels.
“Said request underwent ICC Secretariat Review and was favorably endorsed to the DOF on April 24 , 2015,” the report stated. There were 508 active ODA loan- or grant-assisted programs and projects as of end-2014 in the ODA Portfolio with information on physical performance, of which 103 were physically completed, three were ahead of schedule, 228 were on-schedule and 78 were delayed.
Around 13 of 59 programs and projects funded by ODA loans were physically completed in 2014. Of the remaining 46 programs and projects, physical implementation of 11 projects was on schedule, two were ahead of schedule, while 33 were delayed.
Comparing the 2014 physical status of the 52 loan-assisted programs and projects which were carried over from 2013, some 31 had the same physical status, around 13 were completed, five became worse off, and three had improved/better status in 2014.
For ODA grants, out of the 449 projects, there were 90 grants that were already completed, one was ahead, 217 were on schedule, 45 were behind schedule, one was canceled, and 95 had no disclosed information on physical status.
Meanwhile, a total of 13 actual problem projects were identified for priority monitoring and facilitation based on the Alert Mechanism of the Neda Monitoring and Evaluation Staff, from which 12 were identified to be in the Critical Stage (Alert Level II) for having implementation issues that remained unresolved for at least six months.