THE safety of the country’s air-transport systems continue to hang in the balance as the almost decade-old New Communications Navigation Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) Systems Development project’s civil works and other components remain below 10-percent completion.
National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) documents said the project’s completion rate remained below 10 percent mainly because the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has not provided the necessary counterpart funding for the project.
“Since the start of implementation, the project experienced a lot of difficulties. Lack of GOP [government of the Philippines] counterpart funds in 2004 and 2006, organizational change from the Air Transportation Office in Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines in 2008, frequent changes in PMO [Project Management Office] personnel since 2003, changes in the aviation master plan, and long procurement process prevented the project from taking off as scheduled,” Neda documents stated.
The project was created to establish satellite-based CNS/ATM systems according to the specifications of the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao); deploy vital air transport communication, surveillance and information facilities; and replace aging communication and air traffic equipment in selected airports nationwide.
The CNS/ATM project has two work packages. The first package is for the design and construction of the ATM center and ATM Automation System. The second is for the whole CNS/ATM system.
The progress of physical accomplishment for the package for the construction of the whole CNS/ATM system was only 1.74 percent, while building/civil works for the radar sites was at 0.01 percent.
As of July 2011, Neda documents said that in the first package, the progress of physical accomplishment for equipment/systems and building/civil works are 17.94 percent and 9.86 percent, respectively.
The delays forced the DOTC to request the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) for several loan extensions. The latest of which was in November 2009, which was approved by the ICC Technical Board (TB) but could not be elevated to the ICC Cabinet Committee (Cabcom) level because of the “lack of approved funding strategy.”
Due to these, documents showed that the availment rate or the loan amount’s cumulative utilization according to a multiyear schedule was at 13.52 percent, enough for it to make it into the Neda’s official development assistance (ODA) alert mechanism. The alert mechanism lists problematic developments, which may lead to more cost overruns in the future.
The disbursement rate, or the percentage of actual disbursement against target disbursement for the period, was also low at only 58.29 percent, while the project’s utilization rate, which reflects the physical accomplishment of the project, is at 9.9 percent.
Based on the ICC Cabcom’s approval in February 2002, the CNS/ATM Systems Development’s total project cost is P10.869 billion. Around P9.586 billion will be funded through a loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation now the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
The loan became effective in February 2003 and was scheduled to close on February 2010.
However, in October 2009, the DOTC requested for a change in scope in the project and a 39-month extension of the loan.
The change in scope and 39-month extension increased the CNS/ATM’s total project cost to P13.272 billion, which was approved by the ICC TB in November 2009. This request has not yet been approved by the ICC Cabcom due to lack of budget strategy for the project.
The ICC Cabcom does not grant implementing agencies’ request for project approval or any change in scope that will merit an increase in the original project cost without a budget strategy from the Department of Budget and Management.
