THE government will keep strict safeguards on infrastructure projects, even as spending on hard assets tumbled by 40 percent in the first half of the year, still due to strict audits and validations of projects.
Budget Secretary Kim Robert C. De Leon said the government will not suggest any relaxation of existing safeguards in order to ramp up the government’s spending for infrastructure.
‘In fact, we want more safeguards. What we’re looking at to recover is quick implementation and procurement,’ De Leon told the BusinessMirror after stepping out the briefing room in the Senate last Thursday.
BusinessMirror’s query came after the chief of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) revealed that infrastructure expenditures and other capital outlays fell to P367.4 billion in the first six months. The amount was nearly half of the P620.2 billion the government spent for infrastructure in the same period a year ago.
Last year’s tightening was due to tighter review, audit and validation of public works and implementation of documentary safeguards to protect public funds. These defenses were brought up after the flood control corruption scandal leaked last year, with the government scrutinizing contractor payments and cash releases.
Nonetheless, first-quarter infrastructure spending remained higher than the spending target for the period, exceeding the program of P351.8 billion by 4.4 percent or P15.6 billion, data from the DBM showed.
Still, De Leon noted that the first-half decline was due to the decision by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to not award some infrastructure projects.
He said the DBM is currently closely coordinating with DPWH to proceed with the awarding and procurement to start the projects in the pipeline.
‘It’s not about the safeguards, actually. We have to start implementing the projects. We have to start recovery,’ De Leon said, adding that allotments have already been made available to DPWH.
‘We hope they will be able to start implementing the projects this August and September so that we can see better figures by the third quarter,’ he added.
The DBM further showed that total infrastructure disbursements, which include infrastructure components of subsidy and equity to state-run corporations and transfers to local government units, declined by 28.1 percent to P518.1 billion in the first half from P720.3 billion in the same period last year.
This was also below the P531.6-billion program spending for the six-month period by 2.5 percent or P13.5 billion.
For the month of June alone, disbursements for infrastructure and other capital outlays fell by 34.1 percent year-on-year to P98 billion from P148.8 billion.
According to the DBM, infrastructure proposals must be supported by necessary technical and implementation requirements, including appropriate project documentation, procurement and implementation schedules and clearly defined milestones.
For programs and projects to be implemented in the regions, the budget preparation process also requires the endorsement of the concerned Regional Development Councils to ensure that proposed investments are responsive to regional priorities and have undergone coordination among national government agencies, local government units and other regional stakeholders.
Government’s budget allocation for infrastructure spending next year is pegged at P1.340 trillion, which is 5.35-percent higher than this year’s program of P1.272 trillion. The amount is equivalent to 4 percent of gross domestic product.
Of the amount, P643.95 billion is proposed for DPWH, higher by 21.29 percent than its P530.90-billion budget this year, to bankroll ongoing locally funded and foreign-assisted Infrastructure flagship projects.
Among the major Infrastructure flagship projects supported under next year’s proposed allocation are the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network Project, Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge Project, Davao City Bypass Construction Project, Package I, Cebu-Mactan Bridge and Coastal Road Construction Project, and Pasig-Marikina River Channel Improvement Project, Phase IV.