A COMMITTEE of the Regional Development Council (RDC) wants the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Central Visayas to explain why only P7 billion worth of projects were proposed for inclusion in the 2019 budget of the agency.
Infrastructure Development Committee (IDC) Chairman Glenn Soco said that this is in stark contrast to Davao City’s P45 billion to P60 billion, and Cagayan de Oro City’s P30 billion to P40 billion.
Soco said Cebu, a larger economy than Davao City and Cagayan de Oro City, must get a larger portion of DPWH’s budget for 2019. He hopes that additional funds and projects will be added to their list during the RDC Full Council meeting on September 15.
Soco noted that DPWH-Central Visayas has been late in submitting to IDC-RDC its Fiscal Year 2019 Infrastructure Program based on the National Expenditure Program (NEP).
He said this may be the result of the refusal of then DPWH-Central Visayas Director Ador Canlas to attend IDC meetings. Canlas is now assigned in a floating position at the DPWH Central Office.
“I think DPWH 7 (under Canlas) was under-performing. We have one of the lowest DPWH budgets as compared with other regions,” Soco said.
He said that under the old DPWH-Central Visayas leadership, they were not able to implement a single big ticket infrastructure project for Cebu.
“We are optimistic that under new DPWH 7 Director Edgar Tabacon who is a Cebuano, we will be a better performing regional agency. He assured us that he is more engaging and sensitive to the needs of the public,” Soco said.
Soco said that DPWH-Central Visayas submitted a list of projects for IDC-RDC endorsement like P4.4 billion for national roads, P1.5 billion for flood control, P1.021 billion for a convergence and special support program, P212 million for a local program or a total of P7.177 billion for 2019.
Soco said IDC will submit a report on these project proposals during their RDC Full Council meeting on September 15.
Soco said RDC itself has proposed major priority projects, like the P50 billion Metro Cebu Expressway, Mandaue-Consolacion-Liloan Bypass Road, and Talisay-Minglanilla-Naga Bypass Road, among others.
However, DPWH-Central Visayas was only able to include in the 2018 budget P300 million for the Metro Cebu Expressway, and another P300 million for 2019. This is unusual because the project is estimated to cost P50 billion.
He said this was also the reason why President Rodrigo Duterte canceled the groundbreaking of the Metro Cebu Expressway in Naga City last month because the P50 billion was for 73 kilometers of road from Carcar City to Danao City, while the total of P600 million budget from 2018 and 2019 is only for about 2.7 kilometers.
For flood control, Soco said that out of the P35 billion proposal as indicated in the master plan, only P1.1 billion has been used. (EOB)