Build, Build, Build creates 1.48M jobs during pandemic

(Photo from build.gov.ph)
(Photo from build.gov.ph)

DESPITE restrictions brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Department of Public Works and Highways’ Build, Build, Build Program was able to provide 1.48 million jobs to Filipinos from March 2020 to August 2021, the public works department said in a statement Friday, September 24, 2021.

“As announced before, BBB will be one of our key drivers towards economic recovery. We are glad that indeed infrastructure projects across the country were able to provide the much-needed livelihood opportunities, more so during this pandemic period,” said DPWH Secretary Mark Villar.

The bulk, or 868,246, of the jobs were created in Luzon, followed by 345,887 jobs in Mindanao and 250,102 jobs in the Visayas.

A further 24,560 jobs were generated by projects under the DPWH Unified Project Management Office, the DPWH said.

The regions where the most jobs were created were Bicol, 213,089 jobs; Mimaropa (formally the Southwestern Tagalog Region), 181,501 jobs; and Central Luzon, 125,330 jobs.

In the Visayas, Western Visayas cornered most of the jobs at 120,749, followed by Central Visayas with 73,148 jobs and Eastern Visayas, 56,205 jobs.

Villar did not specify the projects that the workers worked on. But in March, the agency reported that it had accomplished P13.6 billion worth of infrastructure in Central Visayas in 2020.

DPWH Central Visayas said it completed the construction, rehabilitation, improvement and maintenance of 5,203.87 lane kilometers of national roads worth P4.4 billion, 55 bridges worth P708 million, and 110 flood control structures worth P2 billion.

DPWH also facilitated the completion of 754 local infrastructure projects like multi-purpose and school buildings, local roads and bridges, flood control and drainage, and water systems amounting to P3.1 billion.

Other projects included those in convergence with other government agencies worth P3.4 billion.

These comprised 189 classrooms and 27 buildings with the Department of Education costing P535.4 million; 11 projects with the Department of Defense amounting to 290.3 million; two structures with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management costing P65 million; 121.73 lane kilometers of access roads leading to tourist destinations, ports and airports with the Department of Tourism, Department of Trade and Industry and Department of Transportation costing P2.3 billion; and 18.8 lane kilometers of farm-to-market roads with the Department of Agriculture costing P208.8 million.

In Cebu, among the projects the DPWH earlier announced that it had undertaken was a P100 million slope protection structure along the road in Barangay Cansomoroy, Balamban, Cebu that provides protection for those plying the slide-prone portion of the Cebu-Balamban-Transcentral Highway. This project was implemented from February to November 2020.

Also completed was the P50 million tourism project called the Barangay Malolos-Barili-Kantabugon Road in Aloguinsan town cutting the travel time to Hermits Cove, Lunhaw Farm Resort and the world-famous Bojo River.

Work on the 1.38-kilometer, two-lane access road began in February 2020, and residents began using the road in January 2021. (CTL with PR)

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