GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The Regional Development Council (RDC) of Region 12 or Soccsksargen is pushing for the development of an access road leading to the PHP350-million regional drug treatment and rehabilitation center in Alabel town, Sarangani Province.
Alfredo Bronx Hebrona, chair of the RDC-12’s infrastructure and utilities committee, said Monday they submitted a request to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to fund the construction of the road project in Barangay Kawas, Alabel.
He said the move was based on a resolution approved by the council during a recent meeting in Koronadal City.
RDC-12 also lobbied for support from Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao and Sarangani Rep. Rogelio Pacquiao to fast track the release of the funding and implementation of the project, he said.
Hebrona said the council’s social development committee earlier reported the lack of funding for the road project as relayed by the Department of Health (DOH)-Region 12.
He said the provincial government of Sarangani had allotted an initial PHP5 million for the opening and improvement of the access road in Barangay Kawas, Alabel.
“That amount is not enough to complete the concreting of the access road,” he said.
Hebrona said they are working on the implementation of the road project before the facility’s proposed operation by early 2020.
The construction of the drug rehabilitation center, which is funded by the Chinese government, formally started last January and is targeted for completion in 21 months.
Project implementer China Aid tapped state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corp. Ltd. (CSCEC) to build the facility on a three-hectare lot in Alabel.
The facility was mainly the offshoot of the consensus reached during the talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Rodrigo Duterte during the latter’s state visit to China in October 2016.
China sent a technical team to the country in March last year and eventually signed an agreement with the Department of Health.
The deal called “Dangerous Drug Abuse Treatment Rehabilitation Centers Project,” involves the construction of regional drug treatment and rehabilitation centers in Sarangani and Agusan del Sur provinces, with approved grants of PHP350 million each. (PNA)
