Despite the lack of counterpart funding, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is already reviewing the nine-year old P13.272-billion Communications Navigation Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) Systems Development project.
National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Deputy Director General Rolando G. Tungpalan told reporters this was part of the report given by the DOTC during a recent high-level meeting with the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
The Japanese agency is extending a loan of P9.586 billion for the project. The loan was signed in February 2003 and has been re-scheduled to close in June 2013, the new completion date for the project. It was supposed to be finished in February 2007.
“The Japan government raised certain concerns with respect to the status of the CNS/ATM. The DOTC gave an update as to how it is proceeding and Japan noted the update,” Tungpalan said. “The report of DOTC was the project and the contract are under review. [However], there was no reference to [its] inclusion [in the 2012 budget].”
Asked for comment, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) said they have no say on the ATM/CNS project since they are only the recipients once it is turned over to them.
“The project is completely out of our hands, we are only the recipient,” Caap Director General Ramon S. Gutierrez said.
He said when the current Area Control Center “Eurocat” had bogged down, the DOTC approved the construction of the ALS 2.5 air traffic management system as a stop-gap measure.
The ALS 2.5, which is made in Czechoslovakia, is currently under testing to iron out bugs and other problems that may arise.
However, Gutierrez said the ATM/CNS remains the major project that would take over the air traffic control and communications system of the country once it goes on stream.
He said the various delays had ratcheted up the cost of the project, originally estimated at P10 billion.
NEDA documents showed that even after almost 10 years, the project’s civil works and other components remain below 10-percent completion because the DOTC has not provided the necessary counterpart funding for the project.
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; and 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 stated that in the first package, the progress of physical accomplishment for equipment/systems and building/civil works were at 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 but could not be elevated to the ICC Cabinet Committee level because of the “lack of approved funding strategy.”
Due to these problems, documents showed that the availment rate, or the loan amount’s cumulative utilization, according to a multi-year schedule was at 13.52 percent. This enough for it to make it into the Neda’s official development assistance alert mechanism, which lists problematic problems that 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, was at 9.9 percent.
(With Recto Mercene)
