‘Project Dime’ to monitor 13 big gov’t projects

“Ghost” projects will be a thing of the past as the departments of Budget and Management (DBM) and Science and Technology (DOST) plan to roll out this year “Project Dime” or Digital Imaging for Monitoring and Evaluation of big-ticket projects.

Under Project Dime, “various technologies and expertise on data acquisition developed and acquired by the DOST will be used in the program, including Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar), Open Roads Platform and Geostore, and Geotagging,” the DBM said in a statement.

“Satellites and drones will also be used in the program to cover areas which cannot be monitored through Lidar,” the DBM added.

Last year, the two agencies piloted the program and monitored three projects, namely the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ National Greening Program, the Department of Health’s Health Facilities Enhancement Program, and the National Irrigation Administration’s National/Communal Irrigation Systems.

“Findings from the monitoring period allowed the DBM to evaluate the status of the projects and to come up with a recommendation to continue or discontinue the funding of a project as well as other actions for the improvement of the project,” the DBM said.

The full implementation of Project Dime “will quicken implementation of projects and also, in a way, reduce the wastage—no more ‘ghost’ projects as a result of this,” Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno told a press conference.

Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato T. dela Peña said existing DOST facilities would be used for Project Dime.

This year, Project Dime will monitor 13 big-ticket projects, including the Department of Public Works and Highway’s Construction/Improvement of Access Roads Leading to Seaports and Airports; the Department of Transportation’s North-South Commuter Railway (Philippine National Railways-North); the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program; the Department of Education’s Basic Education Facilities; the Commission on Higher Educations’s Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education; the Department of National Defense’s Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program; the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s Local Governance Performance Management Program; the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Machinery, Equipment, Facilities, and Infrastructures Program; the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s Free Wi-Fi Internet Access; and the DA-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ National Fisheries Program.

Diokno said the findings of Project Dime would be reported to President Duterte during Cabinet meetings.

In case they found any anomaly in a project, a case against erring government officials and personnel would be filed before the Office of the Ombudsman, Diokno said./lb