[ Malaya.com.ph ] January 19, 2009
BY REGINA BENGCO
THE government will spend P60 billion on 3,200 infrastructure projects during the first six months of this year as part of its move to pump-prime the economy and generate at least 35,000 jobs.
Public Works Undersecretary Ramon Aquino also said district directors have been allowed to release funds for projects worth P100 million, which is double the usual amount that they can release on their own.
Aquino said the move, which was reached during a meeting of all DPWH regional directors last week, would cut red tape. "Time is of the essence here. We want to make sure that these projects are implemented quickly," he said.
He said the DPWH has decided to spend 60 percent of its P100-billion capital outlay until June as part of its frontloading efforts.
"We want our infrastructure projects to exploit our economy’s growth drivers and enhance employment generation. We expect some 35,000 jobs to be created within the first six months of the year, and that is just in direct hiring alone," he said.
He said more than 2,000 or about two-thirds of the infrastructure projects lined up for implementation in the first half of the year are worth P100 million.
He said bidding for this year’s infrastructure projects, especially those listed in President Arroyo’s state of the nation address (SONA) in 2008, must be finished by February.
The big-ticket SONA projects are Halsema Highway and Bontoc-Tabuk-Tuguegarao road in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Baler-Casiguran road and Dingalan port road in Central Luzon, Marikina-Infanta road in Region 4-A, Iloilo East Coast road, and Calbiga-Tacloban road in the Visayas, and Basilan circumferential road, Surigao Davao coastal road, and Iligan circumferential road in Mindanao.
Aquino said DPWH district directors have also been told to be more resourceful in resolving problems that delay infrastructure projects, such as road rights of way.
He said DPWH officials who could not comply with the quick- spending scheme would be either sacked or reshuffled. He said resources would also be shifted from slow to fast-moving projects.
The Cabinet has approved a P300 billion economic sustainability program as part its plan to head off possible problems from the global economic crisis.
