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The board of the National Economic and Development Authority on
Tuesday approved multibillion-peso worth of big-ticket
infrastructure projects to be funded by foreign aid, documents from
NEDA showed.
The total cost of the projects to be implemented
by the Department of PublicWorks and Highways amount to P41.22
billion.
Of the total cost, P28.3 billion will be spent
on Enhancement and Asset Preservation Management Program (REAMP),
P10.73 billion on President’s Bridge Program—Mega Bridges for
Urban and Rural Development Project, and P2.2 billion on Bicol River
Basin and Watershed Management Project Flood and Hazard Mitigation
Component.
The REAMP aims to enhance the efforts of the
government to improve, preserve and manage its National Road System
in financially and environmentally sound, effective and sustainable
manner. It intends to complement and harmonize with the World
Bank-assisted National Road Improvement and Management Program.
Some 51 percent of the project cost will come
from proceeds of the proposed loan under the Japan Bank for
International Cooperation.
As for the local component, 39.1 percent of the
government counterpart is from the General Appropriations Act (GAA)
and 9.6 percent will come from the Motor Vehicles User’s Charge
special funds allocated primarily for road maintenance.
The President’s Bridge Program, on the other
hand, will put in place vital linkages or road network access along
the Strong Republic Nautical Highway and Pan Philippine Highway to
promote socioeconomic growth in rural and urban centers. “The
project involves the nationwide construction, installation, and
establishment of a total of 10 girder-type flyovers and 72
unibridges [“universal bridges”] or national bridges along the
country’s congested highways and road network utilizing permanent
prefabricated modular steel technology from France,” NEDA document
said.
-- Darwin G. Amojelar
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