THE Provincial Board (PB) of Negros Occidental gave Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. the authority to negotiate for a loan with the Municipal Development Fund Office (MDFO) of the Department of Finance for the implementation of the Capitol employees’ housing sub-project.
Second District Board Member Salvador Escalante Jr., chairman of the (PB) committee on appropriation, budget and finance, said the loan will fund the development of the housing project situated at the 40-hectare property in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City.
Escalante said instead of entering a joint venture with a developer, which will cost much, the provincial government will be the one to implement the project.
“Through which, we can make sure that the project cost will be reasonable,” he said, adding that the total amount has yet to be determined after the ongoing detailed engineering and development plan.
The property is likely to cater to 400 to 500 lots. The same number of employees might avail of the social housing project.
Escalante said that other vacant lots will be intended for other developments like roads and parking spaces, among others.
Supplemental budget
Meanwhile, the PB also approved on Wednesday, January 23, the P50 million worth of supplemental budget intended for the local government units (LGUs) in the province.
This is the first General Fund Supplemental Budget request of the province for 2019.
Of the figure, P48 million is intended as an aid for LGUs while the remaining fund will be used to repair a portion of the Hall, Escalante said.
The source of fund is the P50 million fund previously intended for the purchase of an aircraft which was supposedly for the monitoring and cloud seeding operations, Escalante said.
“The initial plan did not push through so the fund was realigned for the aid requests of various cities and municipalities,” he added. (EPN)