Sunday, August 23, 2009 [ sunstar.com.ph ]
By Carlo P. Mallo
THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has vowed to complete major infrastructure projects in Davao Region before the year ends.
"By December, we will be at 90 to 95 percent complete," Ebdane said in an interview Friday at the Clubhouse of Rancho Palos Verdes.
The completion of the country's main artery roads is one of the major programs of the government, which according to Ebdane, will generate economic growth, especially in areas that are not readily accessible at the moment.
Citing one of the major road projects in Davao Region, the Kapalong-Talaingod-Valencia road, Ebdane said the project opened the vast hectares of untilled agricultural lands to be tapped into coffee and banana plantations.
"And most of the lands there are ancestral lands, this will help our indigenous people," he said.
The major infrastructure projects in Southern Mindanao which include, among others, the Kapalong-Talaingod-Valencia highway and the Surigao-Davao Oriental coastal road are nearly completed based on the monitoring of the DPWH-Southern Mindanao office.
"The Kapalong-Talaingod-Valencia highway is already 86 percent complete while the Surigao-Davao Oriental coastal road is more than 80 percent complete," DPWH-Southern Mindanao Regional Director Osop Ali said.
A total of P2.8 billion has been spent by the DPWH-Southern Mindanao for the first half of the year on the two projects alone, with P1.5 billion for the Kapalong-Talaingod-Valencia highway and P1.3 billion for the Surigao-Davao Oriental coastal road.
A total of P3.3 billion has been spent on the two projects since the two were started in 2007.
"This is our commitment to the people, the taong bayan, and to the President, that we will finish these projects," Ali said.
The infrastructure projects of the DPWH have been fully supported by the President as part of her administration's pump priming activities, citing that new roads will provide new employment opportunities both in the construction phase and after the same has been completed.
In Southern Mindanao, there are 95 Sona projects, with 16 directly under the supervision of the regional office. The remaining 79, on the other hand, are distributed to different district offices throughout the region.
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