The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) took to the highest level the measures to counter substandard infrastructure and even to prevent ghost projects by requiring contractors to have a live streaming of daily construction works.

PPA General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago said the move was aimed at maximizing transparency in all the projects that the agency would enter into with construction companies, particularly in building and rehabilitation of ports across the country.

“We have not experienced ghost projects and it is highly unlikely that it will happen here at PPA because of the limited number of projects we have compared with the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways). But be that as it may, we’ve updated our process and procedure to make sure that the validation of our projects are more transparent,” said Santiago.

“We will be requiring the contractors to have direct livestream access for the day that if you would look at the activity in the IP (internet protocol), you would see in real time the activity at the project site any time of the day or time,” he said.

Santiago said the new policy will cover all the PPA projects that will be awarded starting January this year. 

The daily livestream is also expected to start from the beginning of the construction up to the completion of the project. 

The PPA has been validating all its projects across the country through geotagging that it has already implemented before.

And following allegations of substandard and ghost projects in all flood control and other infrastructure projects, Santiago said mandating contractors to have a daily livestream of their construction works is another safeguard against negative speculations.

All the communication equipment and the IP network will be provided by the contractor and the agreement is that the livestream must be accessible at all times, their copies must also be stored.

“This will be part of the requirements for the contractors for all the projects starting January. We will be institutionalizing that,” said Santiago.

Aside from live streaming, Santiago said they will also come up with a circular this year that will regularly update the price of construction materials as a measure against overpricing.

“We’ve already undertaken the updating, the validation of unit pricing for the materials in different locations and in different projects. We will be coming out with our own internal circular prescribing the cost in preparation of engineering design and program of work,” said Santiago.

“We will issue that and it will be updated every six months to make sure the cost is based on the market price, and so that we will not encounter allegations of overpricing,” he added.