• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The six district engineering offices of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Negros Occidental have maintained there is not a single “ghost project” in the province, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-Bacolod.
The NBI-Bacolod is conducting an investigation on the implementation of flood control projects in Negros Occidental.
“All the six district engineers claimed they are 100 percent sure that no ghost project was implemented in the province,” NBI-Bacolod chief Manuel Fayre Jr. said. “That is very good, if it is true”.
Fayre said the six DPWH district engineers, whom he described as “very cooperative”, have already complied with the subpoenas issued to them, directing their offices to submit a list of all infrastructure projects they implemented in Negros Occidental from 2022 to 2025.
He added that they will compare the documents, which contain the details of the infrastructure projects implemented in the province, especially the flood control projects, to those posted in the DPWH website.
Fayre said they will issue another subpoena for the six DPWH engineering districts for them to be furnished with geo-tagging of areas, where flood control mitigation projects have already been completed or about to be finished.
They are also enlisting the cooperation of communities, where the flood control projects are located, he said.
Based on the NBI’s initial investigation, 10 to 12 flood control projects are reported to have been implemented annually in Negros Occidental. | GB
