Friday, July 18, 2025

Panabo City gov’t in hot water over delayed P75M landfill project

OFFICIALS of Panabo City, Davao del Norte have a lot of explaining to do for  the 120-day extension they gave to a private contractor hired for a P75.79-million sanitary landfill project that was supposed to have been completed on Nov. 9, 2019.

In the 2019 report released last May 11, the Commission on Audit said the longer time granted to the contractor was “unjustified” and condoned “unreasonable delay in project implementation.”

It said the city government’s action was contrary to the provisions of RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act which bars the resetting of the project delivery date based on “ordinary unfavorable weather conditions.”

Shown the COA’s findings, the project officer in charge of the City Engineer’s Office concurred with the audit team’s observations.

Auditors said the project was funded by a loan drawn by the city government from the Development Bank of the Philippines.

The project, located in Barangay Waterfall, Panabo City, was awarded to Arn Builders Inc.

“Physical inspection at the construction site on Jan. 10, 2020 confirmed that the project is still not complete. Based on CEO [City Engineer’s Office] Status Report Project Implementation as of Dec. 31, 2019, the project is still 35 percent completed,” auditors said.

The original timetable of 180 calendar days was changed and lengthened to 300 and the target completion date adjusted from Nov. 9, 2019 to April 19, 2020.

Government auditors also noted that mobilization fees amounting to P11.37 million and first progress billing of P14.844 million have already been released to the contractor.

“Review of the supporting documents showed that the request for a time extension of 120 calendar days or 66.67 percent of the original contract was not properly justified and is deemed excessive,” the COA said.

The extension counted 56 calendar days as “rainy days” but compared side by side with the rainy period certified by the country’s weather bureau, the COA found that only 25 days between June 25 and Oct. 27, 2019 may be considered “unworkable.”

Based on the audit report, the City Engineer reduced the extension from 120 days to just 71 days with a revised completion date of March 1, 2020.

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