An evaluation of the economic planning, appraisal, implementation and performance of selected irrigation projects in the Philippines
Date
1980-10
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
There is a tendency among planners and leaders to attribute the present problems in development planning and difficulties in attaining development goals to a variety of reasons like unpredictable weather condition, inadequate financial and technical assistance and foreign influences. While there must be some truth under certain circumstances to such claim, it is generally believed that what actually leads to failures of projects/programs are: i) deficient decision-making process, ii) poor project selection and preparation and iii) poor implementation.
The paper is about a midterm evaluation of two irrigation projects, which involves taking a snapshot of the two projects in 1979, inferring the developments between then and project initiation, and projecting trends between 1979 and end of project life on the conservative assumption of 1979 values as those of full development.
The objective is to see if project assumptions held at the time of inception remained valid, and how differences between assumptions and actual developments affected the profitability of the two projects based on their economic and financial viewpoints.
The results of the analysis showed that the projects remained feasible, in fact had higher feasibility measures in spite of cost overruns and construction delays. From the national viewpoint, the internal rates of return are 27.8 and 29.9 per cent for the Cotabato and the Davao projects respectively. Net present values are large, amounting to P174,384 thousand for Cotabato and P404,794 thousand for Davao.
Farmers' profitability, measured by the financial rates of return, are very attractive. Values of 22.9 per cent and 17.4 per cent were obtained for the Cotabato and the Davao projects, respectively. Net present values are substantial, amounting to P103,893 thousand for Cotabato and P147,933 thousand for Davao.
While this study demonstrates the usefulness of benefit-cost analysis, the procedural and data requirements of the study could be a complicated and demanding task, The requirements are often compounded by constraints of the planning environment in various agencies, the absence of an adequate organization for planning, the limited number of planning staff with the required skills, the costly gathering of information, and sometimes the absence of national parameters.
It is therefore suggested that the present practices of monitoring, control and evaluation as tools of project management be upgraded greatly both at the project and at the sectoral levels. No management organization can perform effectively even if it is organized unless it is provided with information on project operation to enable it to compare current and past performances.