The construction business has enjoyed tremendous increase in the last three years with real estate booming in major cities in the country, not to mention the build-build-build program of the current administration. Delays, however, have been observed by certain clients which, unnecessarily, create opportunities for so-called extortion.
In a study presented recently by the Reid Foundation, the think tank enumerated expenses incurred by construction firms in infrastructure projects they have gone into both for the public and private sectors.
According to Ronilo Balbieran, vice-president for operations for Reid Foundation, based on the results of the study he presented at the 4th Philippine Construction Industry Congress last year, it is a “problem that they want to address, but nobody wants to talk about.”
Those in the construction business and stakeholders who avail of their services are wont to accept that these companies set aside from 15 to 35 percent of their budgets for infrastructure projects as tokens of good will to government officials and even employees to hasten the processing of certain required documents, thereby, preventing further delays.
Since it is the stakeholders or the clients who bear the brunt of these expenses on top of the fixed budget for a project, the tradeoff may be in the form of excuses done by the construction firm. Some common reasons would be saying that it had to hire more workers to expedite the completion of the project or worse, substituting substandard or cheaper materials instead. In the end, it is the public or the end-user of the project that would be affected.
The think tank executive, however, has a recommendation. Since many of these dealings are difficult to trace as oftentimes, these were done without strict documentation for reference purposes, Balbieran said there is a need to modernize.
“You cannot say the policy is don’t do corruption. That policy doesn’t work because there are always these kinds of opportunities. It’s not modernized. It’s not digital. It’s not done online,” added Balbieran.
Consequently, after the study was done by Reid Foundation, the appointment of the country’s first-ever director general of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (Arta) was made by Malacañang in July 2019.
The Arta is now tasked to implement the new ease of doing business law which provides, among other things, the imposition of a “zero-contact policy,” including in local governments, once an online business registration system has been made. The policy prohibits government workers from having any contact with applicants of construction business permits.
“This, hopefully, will lessen the risk of doing questionable deals with government,” Balbieran opined. – NWI
