DE urges public to monitor millions worth of MP projects

By Pamela Fiar-od Dungala

BONTOC, Mountain Province – The district engineering office here will be implementing millions-worth infrastructure projects this 2014 as pipelined in the Fiscal Year 2014 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

 Engineer Esther C. Taynec, chief of planning and design section of this district bared this saying projects could be worth P50 million to P142,536,000.

This, as DPWH District Engineer Wilbur Likigan encouraged everyone especially beneficiaries to assist in  monitoring infrastructure projects especially during implementation.

Bulk of this budget goes to road upgrading works along Mt. Province-Cagayan via Tabuk Enrile Road with an amount of P15,047,000.00, Bananao Access Road with P11,471,000.00 allotment, Dantay-Sagada Road amounting to P7,923,000.00, Mountain Province-Ilocos Sur via Kayan with P1,380,000.00 allocation and Mountain Province-Ifugao Road (Kiling-Paracelis Section) with P33,555,000.00 funding.

Amount of P7,311,000 is also allotted for rehabilitation works along Dantay-Sagada Road and P31,449,000 for asset preservation along Baguio-Bontoc Road and Mt. Province-Nueva Viscaya Road.

Upgrading refers to the conversion of gravel road to concrete road, rehabilitation is from asphalt to concrete and asset preservation refers to the conduct of preventive maintenance activities along existing concrete roads, Taynec informed.

Another bulk of the district’s allotment amounting to P34,400,000 goes to the repair of existing bridges which are Quisop Bridge and Talubin Bridge along Mt. Province-Ilocos Sur via Tue road and Mt. Province-Nueva Vizcaya Road, respectively, and to the construction of bridges along Mt. Province-Cagayan via Tabuk-Enrile Road, Caluttit Section and Mt. Province-Ilocos Sur via Tue, Beto Spillway.

 Moreover, DPWH-Cordillera regional Office will also be implementing infrastructure projects with a total amount of P300,487,000.00 in the province.

These projects have individual project costs above P50 Million, Taynec said.

 On the other hand, small-scale infrastructure projects such as drainages and protection works amounting to P16,395,000.00 were also programmed which will also be implemented this year. Other infrastructure projects to be implemented include the Health Enhancement Facility Program (HEFP) of the Department of Health (DOH) amounting to P8,600,000.00.

The HFEP is a program of the DOH to construct and upgrade existing health facilities for the poor to have easy access to quality health care and emergency services. Fund release for the civil works component of this program was charged against DPWH budget.