Sunday, March 18, 2007 Pump priming projects must be completed by April 30: DPWH
PUBLIC Works Undersecretary Florante Soriquez ordered regional officials and district engineers of the agency in Northern Luzon to complete all government pump-priming projects on or before April 30 to help attain a good infrastructure development before the rainy season.
Soriquez made the directive during a meeting with DPWH regional directors and district engineers of Regions I, II and the Cordillera held here over the weekend.
The identified government pump-priming projects of the Arroyo administration include the construction, rehabilitation and improvement of flood control and farm to market roads under the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Reform, the construction of school buildings under the Department of Education and the construction of water systems for waterless barangays.
He also ordered all regional officials to ensure that projects which had already been issued Special Allotment Release Orders (Saros) and Notices of Cash Allotments (NCAs) must already be awarded by March 29, a day before the implementation on Theban on implementation of projects by the Commission on Elections to ensure the smooth implementation of the administration's priority projects before the end of the summer season.
Earlier, DPWH officer-in-charge Manuel Bonoan also directed all regional and district offices to complete the implementation of their backlog projects by April this year while projects with funding releases last year must be completed by June.
Soriquez rallied agency officials in the regional and district levels to strictly monitor the implementation of identified pump priming projects on time to prevent the imposition of sanctions against those who could not meet the given deadline.
DPWH Regional Director Mariano Alquiza said they will have to work double time to meet the deadline imposed by higher authorities and in order for the beneficiaries of the projects to utilize them in the coming months.
The flood control and farm to market projects are aimed at enhancing the agricultural development of rural communities within the North Luzon Agri-business Growth Quadrangle (NLAQ) while the school buildings are intended to be used by schoolchildren in school-less barangays in the area. The water system projects for waterless barangays are geared towards providing enough source of potable water to residents in far-flung communities.
Alquiza said the Cordillera region is a primary beneficiary of the government's pump priming activities, thus, he is confident that these vital infrastructures could help alleviate the poverty incidence in the region in the coming years. (Dexter See)
