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Friday, August 18, 2006
USC-WRC loses subsidy from Dutch govt. for water project
By Linette C. Ramos
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
The University of San Carlos-Water Resource Center (USC-WRC) will lose at least P110 million in funding from the Dutch Government after it failed to accomplish one component of the Water Remind Project.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said the Royal Embassy of the Netherlands decided to hold the remaining funds for the project because it was not satisfied with USC-WRC’s output.
The Dutch Government withdrew from the project because an audit by the United Nation’s Development Program (UNDP) yielded unfavorable results, he said.
Water Remind is a P185-million project funded by the Dutch Government to help develop water sources and ensure continuous water supply in Metro Cebu in the next 25 years.
It started in December 2002 and is set to end in November 2007.
USC-WRC has so far gotten P63 million from the entire amount allocated for the project.
A WRC official admitted that the five-year project was cut short to four years, but only because they failed in getting the City and Provincial Government’s cooperation.
“UNDP checked the status of the project and the funding was cut off after the audit. After spending P70 million for it, the Dutch Government is not happy with their output. And what does that prove? Who is right?” Osmeña told reporters yesterday.
Recycled
The mayor has, time and again, accused WRC of making money out of the project, whose output were all “recycled.”
“As far as I’m concerned, the money spent for the project is gone. I suspect many of these studies were already done even before the project started. They were recycled. They’ve already studied Mananga river 30 times last year but the river has not changed,” the mayor said.
Osmeña also announced that the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) will assume the last phase of the project and will get the remaining P110 million for it.
Fe Walag, Water Remind Project director, admitted the Dutch Government is pulling out from the partnership, but not for the reason the mayor stated.
Through the external audit, which was conducted last January, the Dutch Government found out that WRC was not able to carry out the objectives of the project.
While they were able to accomplish the technical aspects of the water project and capability building activities for mountain barangay communities, it was not able to create the Water Resources Management Board (WRMB).
“We complied with some of the requirements but when they checked on the capability building for managerial skills, they saw that we failed on that. We were not successful because the governor and the mayor withdrew their support,” Walag told Sun.Star Cebu.
The WRMB, which was supposed to have the governor and the mayor as co-chairpersons, would have been one of the final outputs of the Water Remind Project.
USC-WRC has so far gotten P63 million in funding for various feasibility studies for water projects in Metro Cebu.
Once MCWD takes over Water Remind, Osmeña said he will suggest that a knowledge center be set up within the water district building, which will hold all available records and data pertaining to water, as well as new technology in water sourcing.
The knowledge center can be used as resource area for feasibility studies that will help MCWD in developing water systems in the mountain barangays.
MCWD can then invite groups from the private sector to bid for the water projects, he said.
In another development, the financial advisor of MCWD told the utility firm to ask the Ayala Corp.-led consortium to submit a breakdown of the P200 million that the consortium will demand if a challenger wins the Carmen bulk water supply project instead of the consortium.
MCWD general manager Armando Paredes said the International Financing Corp. made the advice during a meeting yesterday, a day after Mayor Osmeña sent a letter to National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Secretary Romulo Neri to reject offer of the Ayala consortium to supply water to MCWD from Carmen town. (With EOB)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 18, 2006 issue)
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