GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Some PHP1.2 billion worth of national and local government-funded infrastructure projects were implemented in parts of South Cotabato province last year.
Vicente Ayongao, officer-in-charge of the Provincial Engineer’s Office (PEO), said Wednesday these projects comprised of 157 vertical and horizontal structures that were identified as priorities in the province’s 2017 infrastructure program.
He said 97 of these projects were already completed, with some turned over to the recipients, while the remaining 60 are still ongoing.
Among those that are still in the construction phase are national line agency-funded special projects, he said.
“Some of these projects are due for completion within the first half of the year,” Ayongao said.
Half of the completed projects were vertical structures, such as classroom buildings, multi-purpose buildings, barangay halls, day care centers, senior citizen buildings, gymnasiums, covered courts, and stage and multi-purpose drying pavement.
Also included were the repair and improvement of provincial government offices and other facilities, he said.
Ayongao said about 39 percent were horizontal projects consisting of the upgrading or concreting of roads; construction of bridges and box culverts; installation of drainage systems, lined canals and flood control structures; and the construction and repair of water systems.
He said the remaining 11 percent, which accounts for the bulk of the funding, were road projects funded under the Department of Agriculture’s Food Security Program and the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s KALSADA and CMGP programs.
KALSADA, which was launched in 2016, stands for Konkreto at Ayos na Lansangan ang Daan Tungo sa Pangkalahatang Kaunlaran.
It transitioned last year to CMGP or Conditional Matching Grant to Provinces for road repair, rehabilitation and improvement.
Ayongao said the implemented infrastructure projects complemented with the local government’s development vision to transform the area into a “premier agro-industrial center in the Southern Philippines”.
He said infrastructure development remains one of the banner programs of the current administration of Gov. Daisy Avance Fuentes.
“These projects are all aimed at bringing the provincial government closer to the people and at the same time deliver sustainable countryside development and progress,” he added. (PNA)
