DPWH completes 50% of projects set this year

Department of Public Works and Highways assistant regional director for construction Marlina Alvizo revealed that over 50 percent of the agency's total number of projects for this year is already completed.

Alvizo said that the agency has finished 676 of the 1,184 projects it has planned for the region. Two hundred seventy-nine of these are still ongoing and 229 have not yet been started. The projects consisted of various infrastructure including local projects, water supply for waterless municipalities, the regular DPWH projects, and other projects funded by the senators, congressmen, and partylist representatives. The total allocation for all projects amounted to P868 million, Alvizo revealed.

Regional director Robert Lala said that one of the major causes of delay in construction is the road right of way. He said that owners of lots that would be affected by the projects usually have negative reactions. Most of them, he said, complain why their lots are going to be used by the government. Problems such as these, according to him, are being discussed with the agency's staff every month.

Lala, however, assured that the government would pay whatever the cost according to the law. A just compensation would be paid to the owners.

On another development, DPWH chief of planning and design Luis Galang said that his office has already submitted its budget proposal for the agency's Infrastructure Program for the years 2006 and 2007.

For the year 2006, Galang said that the projects would consist of bridges, Various Infrastructure Including Local Projects (VIILP), buildings, nautical highways, and foreign assisted projects in the 13 engineering districts of Region 7. The budget amounted to P1,848,256,000.

Galang also added that the budget has been approved in the Lower House. DPWH is only waiting for the approval of the Upper House.

The 2007 budget would amount to more than P5 billion, with a P43-million allocation for flood control. - Noreen B. Napoles, Correspondent