A TOTAL of almost P50 million worth of two supplemental budget requests earmarked for various infrastructure projects and operations of district hospitals in Negros Occidental have been approved by the Provincial Board (PB).
The PB first approved 2018 General Fund Supplemental Budget No. 12 amounting to P27.8 million.
Second District Board Member Salvador Escalante Jr., chairman of the PB committee on appropriations, budget and finance, said the bulk of the appropriation is intended for the development of the road network in Toboso town.
Escalante said the project amounting to P20 million covers the concreting of Crossing Unggoy–Sitio Mainit Road and Pulupangyan–Pasto–Salvacion Road.
“We have projects there before undertaken by the military. It was cancelled though due to some technicalities,” he said, adding that the implementation of the provincial road project will now include additional components like extensions.
“The length of roads up for development is pegged at about 1.5 kilometers,” Escalante said.
Other components of the appropriation included conversion of dryer feeder line at the Negros First Rice Processing Center in Bago City worth P603,635; upgrading of manpower development center and purchase of equipment at the Negros Occidental Language and Information Technology Center worth P1.65 million; expansion of Negros First Organic Technology Center (NFOTEC), P3.09 million; development of NFOTEC as registered learning site worth P1.5 million; and development of Provincial Nurseries in cities of Himamaylan and Victorias worth P1 million.
The source of fund for these projects is the reversion of 2017 and 2016 20 percent Provincial Development Fund.
The PB also approved 2018 Supplemental Budget No. 3 of Hospital Operations Department (HOD) worth P22 million.
Escalante said the appropriation will be distributed to the HOD itself and among 11 district hospitals. The amount per facility depends on their respective concerns.
The bulk of the fund will go to HOD’s purchase of equipment including x-ray machines and Magnetic Resonance Imaging amounting to about P8 million.
“This might be the last supplemental budget for HOD this year,” he said, adding that the source of fund is the reversion of Personnel Services savings. (EPN)