CamNorte alloted P980M for ‘Build, Build, Build’ program

By Rosalita B. Manlangit DAET, Camarines Norte --- The Department of Public Works and Highways has allocated P980M for 87 various infrastructure projects in this province under the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program. DPWH District Engineer Ricardo R. Gutierrez said that under the Build, Build, Build program, they were instructed to facilitate government projects funded under the General Appropriations Act 2017. He said that of the 87 projects this year, 13 are national roads, including projects of the Department of Tourism, eight bridges, seven river controls, five water supply, 37 multi-purpose buildings and facilities, 16 local roads, 17 rain water collector systems and a drainage system. Of the 87 projects, 11 multi-purpose buildings and five local roads were completed while others were on procurement, perfection and on-going. By the end of June 2017, all projects should be in “absorbed capacity” and 30 percent of the budget must have been disbursed, he said. Last year, of the 112 various infrastructure projects targeted 105 were completed. Aside from this, under the Basic Educational Facilities Fund (BEFF) from year 2014-2016, the DPWH completed 449 classrooms out of 785 targets for the K-12 program of the Department of Education. This year, a total of 575 classrooms under the BEFF were targeted. At least 16 farm-to-market roads of the Department of Agriculture (DA) were targeted this year while 14 FMR were completed out of 15 listed last year. Meanwhile, two projects are on-going for the health facilities which were targeted last year. The DPWH also requested additional funds to finance preliminary detailed engineering for soil exploration as the basis for the foundation of design of school buildings. Classrooms were designed for disaster proof and the district office has secured listings of areas that are “No Build Zone” from the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau and Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils. He urged the public to cooperate when projects are being implemented in their area. If there are problems or issues, the DPWH may be contacted at hotline numbers 09177606582 (Globe) and 09096858178 (Smart). PIA5/Camarines Norte