There is a notable takeaway from the auditor-general’s (AuG) review of capital projects by the National Water Commission (NWC), which has thus far received little attention. Because it is unstated.

The problems highlighted by the AuG were not ones of constraints in the government’s public procurement system, which has increasingly become the catch-all, or go-to excuse, for the failures of, or delays in, public projects. It is the basis for calls for the almost wholesale abandonment of the regime.

When stripped to the core, what Pamela Monroe Ellis’ investigators found were weaknesses in project planning and project management and deficiencies in financial analysis. NWC is poor at collecting what is owed to it and also weak at market projections. It is persistently over-optimistic about expected income and cash flow, leaving it with insufficient capital to fund its projects.