PALO, Leyte - The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is set to release P2 million for each municipality in the region as part of its pump priming program for the first quarter of this year.
DPWH Regional Director Jimmy Pacanan told Leyte Samar Daily Express in an interview that this program is aimed to support the government’s thrust of poverty alleviation through infrastructure development. This will improve the economy of a locality and provide jobs to its constituents as well, he said.
“This pump priming program that the DPWH will implement will help improve the quality of life of people living in the countryside and this will create a big impact on the lives of ordinary Filipinos,” Pacanan said.
According to him, the P2 million that would be allocated for each municipality would only be used for the opening of farm-to-market roads and, in some instances, provision of potable water to a locality.
But Pacanan stressed that the funds to be released supposedly for the first quarter of this year, will not include, in any instance, projects like road concreting and surfacing as they have separate funding allocation.
“The funds that we will be released will purely be used for the opening of roads, especially those from farm-to-market and also the establishment of potable water source for the constituents in a certain locality,” Pacanan pointed out.
According to Pacanan, the said amount to be provided for municipalities in the region is part of the P35 billion savings that the government reported to have incurred due to the recent appreciation of peso over the dollar currency and the austerity measures that have been implemented in the recent years.
Express learned from Pacanan that the P2 million for each of the municipality would be coursed from the DPWH directly to the local chief executives or the mayors of the concerned towns.
Because of this, the DPWH in the region is now coordinating closely with the town mayors in the region to iron out specific plans relevant to this pump riming program of the agency.
Pacanan said about six billion of the 35 billion savings of the government is earmarked for the whole of DPWH family for this program that they have now.
The region has over a hundred municipalities, thus, over two hundred million also would be allocated for the region for this pump priming program of the department.
Pacanan said they were asked to re-submit their report about the prospective projects in the region about this program because some municipalities were insisting to set in some projects that need concreting and surfacing of roads which are not included in the master plan of the program and were not allotted with funding.
But he said there were instances in Biliran that the proposed projects are not farm-to-market roads but the establishment of source for potable water which is the very need of the place. Pacanan said such proposal is allowed.
The DPWH chief in the region hopes that this funding, which is already available, would flow smoothly from the DPWH down to the municipalities and that there will be proper implementation of the projects because he believes this will bring big impact to the lives of the Filipinos especially those in the countrysides.
