DPWH launches InfraTrack mobile app

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) recently launched a mobile application to better monitor the status of infrastructure projects and to stop ghost projects.

In a statement, the DPWH said the InfraTrack App serves as a geographic information system employing geo-tagging technology to help check if a project truly exists or if it is a ghost project.

“The InfraTrack App plots photos submitted for monitoring in the exact geographic co- ordinates where it was taken. System automatically alerts us when a project is misreported from a different location,” Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said.

“When we finish the transition of the data this year to our new monitoring system, the Project and Contract Management Procedures and Application, and with the full use of this new application, ghost projects and inaccurate reporting would be a thing of the past,” he added.

With this new app, Villar said DPWH would also require contractors making claims to submit geo-tagged photos as well as geographic-based status report to have visual proof on the status of the project.

“Drones are already being used in monitoring the accomplishment of regional projects. We are now mandating our district offices to adopt the same technology,” Villar shared.

Drone videos may also be embedded in the InfraTrack App.

Also present during the launch of the DPWH InfraTrack App were the “Build Build Build” team led by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno and Bases Conversion and Development Authority president Vince Dizon.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. president Jose Ma. Lim and North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Corp. Tollways Development and Engineering senior vice president Raul Ignacio also attended the event.

“The launch of the InfraTrack App is consistent with the President’s mandate of increasing transparency and accountability in government,” Medialdea said.

The launch of the InfraTrack App was done simultaneously with an inspection of the NLEX Harbor Link Project Segment 10, the first project to be inputted in the application.

The DPWH said the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 is an elevated expressway linking MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela City and C3 Road in Caloocan City. It is projected to be operational by the end of the first quarter of 2018.

“We expect to finish the project by early next year, anticipating complete delivery of the remaining right-of-way (ROW) by end of this month,” Ignacio added.

ROW acquisition and initial construction activities are ongoing for the 2.6-kilometer Radial Road 10 section of the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 from C3 Road in Caloocan City to R10 in Navotas City.

“When NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 is completed, travel time from Quezon City to Manila will be reduced to 20 minutes,” Villar added.