Saturday, December 06, 2008 P620M worth of projects proposed
AT LEAST P620 million worth of infrastructure, development, environment and social projects were proposed yesterday to the Cebu City Development Council (CDC) for inclusion in the 2009 Annual Investment Plan (AIP).
But not all the projects can be implemented, though, because only P160.1 million has been allocated for the Local Development Fund (LDF) in the approved budget of City Hall for 2009.
The proposed projects of barangay captains, nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations (POs) is P457 million more than the approved LDF, which makes up six percent of the 2009 General Fund.
More than half of the P616,784,271.25 worth of proposals are infrastructure projects amounting to P396 million, while P61.8 million are for social projects, P57.9 million
for development administration projects, P55.7 million for environment projects and P45.3 million for economic projects.
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez is optimistic, though, that more projects in the AIP can be funded next year when the City Government makes its first sale at the
South Road Properties (SRP).
Although the LDF has already been approved, priority projects can be included in supplemental budgets.
Barangay captains, NGOs, POs and other members of the CDC presented the complete list of proposed projects during their quarterly meeting at the Holiday Plaza Hotel yesterday.
Fernandez told the proponents that projects will have to be prioritized since not all the items can be funded and implemented immediately.
Prioritizing
“We will have to prioritize the important ones first but prioritizing, hopefully, will be less difficult for us because if there are no hitches, we will be able to collect some payments for SRP lots by January,” he told some 150 CDC members who attended the meeting yesterday.
Among the projects included in the AIP is the rehabilitation of the City’s light and heavy equipment amounting to P85 million, the renovation of the four-story Gotiaoco building across the City Hall executive building amounting to P104 million and the improvement of the Department of Engineering and Public Works and Department of Public Services building at the SRP amounting to P40 million.
The geometric improvement and rehabilitation of traffic signals (P27 million), garbage collection improvements (P10.8 million), improvement of the sanitary landfill (P16.7 million), elimination of the odor at the landfill (P15.8 million) and peace and order programs (P22 million) were also proposed.
A lump sum amount of P30 million was also included for the construction of a building, street lighting and purchase of equipment intended to attract more investors to the SRP.
Other projects included are drainage systems, lot acquisition, road network projects and flood prevention measures for the barangays. (LCR)
