President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the government agencies implementing infrastructure projects to be transparent by publishing in the national dailies all projects under negotiation and those already bid out and completed.
He says he wants to know the contractors that won the multi-million-peso government projects being implemented by the Public Works and Transport departments and the National Irrigation Administration.
“I have a list. I want to know the winning bids and to whom these were awarded, and for how much,” Duterte said.
Most of the government projects are being awarded to favored contractors who usually win the biddings by “diving” the estimated cost by as much as 20 percent.
“I want to know who dive the project cost. If it’s P50 million and it is dived to P30 million, there’s something wrong. So what do you expect of a P30-million project? P50 million, and then dive it to P30 million?” Dutete said.
The lowest bids have been the source of all corruption, beginning from the national level as well as the local level including the barangays, Duterte once said at an event at the National Economic and Development Authority.
He says the goal is to inform the public about government projects, the nature and amount of the projects and to whom they are awarded.
The detailed information on the projects are to be published in the major dailies.
“The President has railed against the government’s lowest-bid rule saying it’s the root of corruption,” Duterte said.
