Home 
Publications Online Publications Document
|
Seminannual Report on Project Administration and Technical Assistance Implementation for the Period Ending 30 June 1999 : Country Implementation Highlights
PhilippinesThe number of ongoing loans in the Philippines decreased to 47. No loans were approved and two were closed during the period. Four loans were rated as unsatisfactory in implementation progress and one in the achievement of development objectives, while the corresponding numbers for partly satisfactory were six and three, respectively. Four loans were approved in the second half of 1998: two were declared effective during the period and two were waiting to be declared effective. None were signed or awaiting signing. Although a slight improvement was observed, project implementation continued to be hindered by (i) delays in loan effectiveness, (ii) lack of counterpart funds, (iii) delays in procurement caused by internal procedures and legal impediments, (iv) delays in submission of audited project accounts and financial statements, and (v) delays in land acquisition. Two loans underwent major changes in project scope and implementation arrangements and another two experienced minor changes in implementation arrangements. The Bank's 1999 CPRM agreed with the Government on a number of remedial measures to improve the portfolio performance. These included: (i) an intensive portfolio restructuring exercise to identify components that no longer have high priority, and surplus loan proceeds; (ii) establishment of a joint Bank and Government working group to review the budget requirements of projects for each of the years 1999-2001; (iii) tasking the joint working group to examine the provision of counterpart funding by the local government units under devolved projects, and to rationalize the reporting and disbursement procedure under such projects; (iv) monitoring by the Commission on Audit of the submission of audited project accounts and financial statements in close consultation with the Bank to eliminate compliance delays; (v) circulation of a notice by the Government to further clarify that the requirement of a Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board license would be waived for foreign contractors who participate in bidding for Bank-assisted contracts, and to address the issue of procurement delays caused by existing and newly introduced administrative measures; and (vi) synchronizing the Bank's processing with the Government's budget appropriation over a transition period of 2-3 years to accommodate the newly introduced budget appropriation procedure, which requires that projects be approved by the Cabinet by April for them to be included in the budget requirements in the Draft General Appropriation Act for the following year. To assist Bank staff and Government agencies in improving project design and portfolio performance, a CPIP was started and is expected to be completed in September 1999. The CPIP is structured into two parts. Part A documents the institutions, regulations, procedures, and processes involved in project implementation; Part B compares the existing approach to project implementation with best practices, thereby identifying existing constraints, and recommends a program of assistance to mitigate the constraints and improve the implementation process. Although the CPIP focuses on Bank-assisted projects, the implementation practices that were evaluated generally extend to all development projects, such as those financed entirely by the Government and those partly financed with bilateral or multilateral assistance. The CPIP documents and assesses the institutions, policies, and practices employed in the Philippines that identify and deal with fraudulent and corrupt practices. New initiatives of the Government in this field are also presented. The objective is to gain an understanding of the extent to which Bank-assisted projects are exposed to corrupt and fraudulent practices. Measures are proposed to mitigate this exposure, and their effectiveness will be assessed in terms of ensuring appropriate utilization of Bank financing. Contract awards and commitments of $27.4 million represented 49 percent of the semiannual projection of $55.4 million and 8 percent of the annual projection of $334.6 million. Disbursements of $62.6 million reached 68 percent of the semiannual projection of $91.6 million and 19 percent of the annual projection of $334.7 million. The high figures for the annual projections were due to the expected tranche releases from one of the two program loans approved in December 1998. There were no disbursements from program loans. The disbursement ratio was only 3.6 percent compared with the Bankwide average of 11.9 percent, a decrease from 6.8 percent during the same period last year, because of the large undisbursed loan balance at the beginning of the year and low disbursements during the period. Net resource transfer decreased from a negative $85.6 million as of 30 June 1998 to a negative $139.5 as of 30 June 1999 due to the lower disbursement and higher loan service payments. Audited project accounts and financial statements were due for 27 loans, but compliance was met for only 9. The submissions for 8 loans were delayed by less than 6 months; and those for the remaining 10, between 6 and 12 months. The performance of the Philippines in this area was very poor, with a compliance level of only 33 percent. Of the 47 ongoing loans, environmental covenants were met for 16 and were under implementation for 22. The covenants were not applicable to nine. The social covenants were met for 14 loans, and compliance for 27 was ongoing. The covenants were not applicable to the remaining six. Tables 49 and 50 summarize the data for the Philippines.  
|
RSS Feeds
Back
Top of page