World Bank Cancels Loans for Metro Manila BRT Project - UNBOX PH
According to local media reports, the World Bank saw little to no progress with the project despite having only six months left before its deadline. Therefore, “an extension cannot be justified.”
The poor project performance, as pointed out by the World Bank, is due to the weak capacity of the implementing agency, the inefficiency of procurement management, the lack of general government budget allocation, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Despite the renewed commitment from government counterparts, project implementation remained slow during the last three years. The project has zero procurement activity completed,” the World Bank said.
For its part, the Department of Finance submitted a formal cancellation request last June 21 for the $64.5 million undisbursed loans. So far, only 100,000 USD has been disbursed from the $64.6-million approved loan for the Metro Manila BRT Line 1 project.