Former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Rodolfo Azurin, special adviser and investigator of the Independent Commission for Infrastructures (ICI), led a team that inspected two infrastructure projects here that were included in the 51 questionable flood control projects flagged by the government in the Davao region.
The team included members of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Baguio City Benjamin Magalong.
One of the projects, the flood control project along the Davao river in the area known here as Matina Gravahan, was already destroyed by a big flood only months after it was completed last year, residents here said.
But Azurin said it was still too early to say whether the project was substandard or not, but the team had already taken samples of materials being used to check if the contractor who built the dike followed the specifications approved by the DPWH.
‘We saw that in less than two years, the project was already damaged, but we still have to review the contract with the DPWH so that we can determine what sanctions we can impose on the contractors and the implementers of the project,’ Azurin said.
With Azurin and Magalong was Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Arthur Bisnar, who led the DPWH team during the inspection.
Aside from the flood-control project along the Davao River, the team also inspected the rock-netting intended for slope control along the Diversion Road here. Their earlier schedule to inspect another project in Barangay Callawa here did not push through.
Earlier, Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon visited Davao Occidental province, where he discovered that the P96.5 million Culaman Bridge flood control project in Jose Abad Santos turned out to be a ‘ghost project.’