A TOTAL of P8 billion was approved for the 2018 annual budget, said Davao City Council committee chair on finance Danilo Dayanghirang.
During the weekly press conference Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Davao, Dayanghirang said a big chunk of the 2018 budget will be allocated for the social services of the city, including the Lingap para sa Mahirap project, and the maintaining and operating expenditures.
Dayanghirang said the city will be changing all sodium lights to LED for cost and energy efficiency.
He said this has yet to have final budget in the annual implementing plan but they foresee that the project will be one of the priorities to be funded in 2018.
According to Davao Light Power Corporation (DLPC) executive vice president and chief operating officer Rodger Velasco, the objective of the project is to reduce power consumption as LED is brighter but uses less energy.
"But LED during those times were still very expensive. Now it's maturing and the prices are going down. We studied it further and we think this is the right time already. It was P120,000 per light before, now it's averaging only about P14,000 to P18,000 depending on the wattage," he added.
In a previous report, then Davao City councilor and now acting City Vice Mayor Bernard Al-ag said the City is currently spending an average of P18 million a month for the payment of electricity bill or around P200 million a year.
Dayanghirang also mentioned that among the other projects to be given priority funding for 2018 are the maintenance of Task Force Davao, the Coastal Road project, different Japan International Cooperation Agency projects, and widening to four lanes of the roads going to the second district, and Calinan, and Toril areas.
Though there has yet to be final amount of funding to be allocated for these priority projects, he assured that the projects will be given proper funding.