TWO government projects of Antipolo City in Rizal province worth P40.66 million financed through loans remained unused, resulting in the wastage of its benefits and the continuing payment for interest.

The Commission on Audit (COA), in its report on Antipolo City, bared that the construction of materials recovery facility and purchase of a lot for a school remained untapped as of 2011 yearend.

In 2009, the city government contracted a loan with the Finance department’s Municipal Development Fund Office (MDFO) for the construction of the waste facility that aims to reduce waste by composting and recycling.

Records show that P11.89 million was earmarked for the facility located in barangay (village) San Jose.

Although the facility was completed on December 28, 2010, “up to the present, the facility remains unutilized, a year after it was completed,” state auditors noted.

“The non-use of the building was primarily [due] to . . . the absence of equipment and machinery needed for the accelerated composting of the compostable wastes to be processed in the facility,” the Commission revealed.

Failure of bidding, delay in purchase of equipment and the need for the city to re-apply a new loan from the MDFO to buy the equipment hampered the use of the waste-saving facility, COA reported.

As of December 2011, the MDFO has not approved yet the new loan application for the composting equipment.

“In the absence of equipment needed for composting, the facility could not yet be fully used as planned,” COA said, adding that garbage cannot simply be dumped in the building due to health and environmental risks.

A P28.77-million lot meant for construction of school in barangay San Isidro still remained a parcel of land despite its full payment on September 2010.

“The land remained unoccupied and unutilized up to the present, more than a year since its acquisition. No school building was constructed yet in the lot,” COA reported.

The Commission noted that the city bought the property “even if it was not yet urgently needed.”

Auditors commented that the lack of construction on the lot indicated that the school was not yet planned prior to the purchase.

“The funds for the purchase could have been used instead for more immediate and pressing needs of the students and teachers of the city, like textbooks and other reference materials, armchairs and desks,” the Audit agency said.

They added that the Antipolo City officials had “no proper planning or prioritization” when they rolled out the projects.

That said, the Commision bared that the city hall is already paying the interests on the loans contracted for the costs of the two unused projects.

As of 2011 yearend, Antipolo paid P893,584.22 and P3.57 million interests for the materials recovery facility and the supposed school site, respectively.

“The purposes of the two projects were not achieved. The desired results of the projects that should benefit the city government and its constituents have not been met,” COA said.

COA asked city hall officials to properly plan their projects before starting them to avoid delays and wastage of funds that would be used for their purchase.

In a reply, the city hall said that they are still in the process of completing the papers required for the release of equipment needed for the recovery facility. The site, in the meantime, is used for manual composting and segregation by waste pickers.

As for the lot, the site is being considered for the construction of a sports center and to house the offices of the Division of City Schools of Antipolo City.