BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Department of Public works and Highways (DPWH-CAR) called on partner agencies to facilitate the reconciliation of their terms of engagement in relation to the implementation of their agencies’ priority projects to avoid unnecessary delays in the implementation and completion of works and the payment of contractors that worked on these projects.
DPWH-CAR assistant regional director Engr. Emmanuel Diaz said that the major cause of delay in the implementation and completion of the projects of partner agencies being supervised and managed by the government’s infrastructure arm is the conflicting terms of engagement with that of the DPWH.
He claimed that the other causes of delay in the implementation of projects can be easily resolved by the agency but not in the conflicting terms of engagement because the partner agencies will have to align these with that of the DPWH that is in charge of handling the implementation of priority infrastructure projects of concerned government agencies.
The DPWH-CAR official pointed out that prior to the prosecution of projects that are downloaded to the agency for implementation, partner agencies should make sure that their respective terms of engagement are aligned with the one of the agency to avoid unnecessary delays in the completion of the works.
Earlier, the DPWH-CAR was in charge of the implementation of major infrastructure projects of government agencies in the region such as those of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Department of Education school buildings, Philippine Military Academy (PMA), among others.
Diaz stated that partner agencies that have projects downloaded to the DPWH for implementation should first work on the reconciliation of the conflicting terms of engagement to ensure the smooth implementation of the projects to significantly improve the delivery of quality services to the people that the agencies cater to.
Concerned government agencies usually partner with the DPWH for the implementation of their priority infrastructure projects, especially the construction of buildings that will serve as their offices and multipurpose facilities, because it is the infrastructure arm of the government.
Diaz expressed hope that the implementation of the projects of partner agencies will not encounter unnecessary delays in the future after all issues and concerns related to the conflicting terms of engagement of the agencies with that of the DPWH will be resolved by the parties.
He pointed out that the agency will continue to sustain and improve the implementation of quality projects provided the DPWH-CAR to ensure that these will be able to achieve their respective economic life for the benefit of the end users, especially the partner agencies that will use the completed structures and the taxpayers who fund the projects.
The DPWH-CAR remains steadfast in making sure that projects provided funding support by the central office and partner agencies will be implemented and completed within the prescribed period except when there are causes of delay that are beyond the agency’s control. By Dexter A. See
