ARMM gets additional P2.73B for road projects

MANILA, Philippines – Good news for Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao folk.

After getting P28 billion, the biggest slice of the government’s infrastructure budget pie this year, the southern Philippines has been allocated an additional P2.73 billion by the Department of Public Works and Highways to fund road projects in the ARMM.

In a DPWH report, a copy of which was given to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the agency said the additional funds would go to “12 road projects in the ARMM undergoing upgrading and rehabilitation.”

The projects, which cover nearly 130 kilometers of roads, are as follows: Basilan Circumferential Road, with an allocation of P479.7 million; Jolo-Taglibi-Tiptipon Road (P434 .5 million) and Jolo Port Bud Daho-Romandier Road (P58.8 million), both in Sulu; Bongao-Nalil Road (P61.5 million) and Bongao-Pahut Road (P149.2 million), both in Tawi-Tawi; Molundo-Wao Road, (P155.5 million) and Ganassi-Tubod Road (P104.9 million) and Marawi-Malabang Road (P580 million), all in Lanao del Sur; and Midsayap-Dulawan-Maka Road, (P402.1 million), Cotabato-Lanao Road (P174.2 million), Kidapawan-Ala Road (P115 million) and Gambar Kabuntalan Road (P10 million), all in Maguindanao.

The road projects are part of the government’s Stimulus Development Plan (SDP) for the ARMM, where “priority and strategic projects promoting basic services, infrastructure and livelihood development will be prioritized for funding.”

“The development of national roads in the ARMM is one of the highlights of the plan,” said the DPWH report. The ARMM is said to be among the poorest and most underdeveloped regions in the country.

The DPWH, designated as the lead agency in implementing the SDP, has created a task force to oversee its implementation.

During the 2011-2013 period, a total of nearly P70 billion in infrastructure funds have been set aside for Mindanao by the DPWH.

Allocations for the other regions are as follows: Metro Manila, P30.5 billion; Northern Luzon, P59.02 billion; Southern luzon, P46.3 billion; and the Visayas, P44.8 billion.

Meanwhile, at least seven World Bank-assisted national road improvement projects in Mindanao have yet to be completed, according to the DPWH.

They include, among others, the Kapatagan and Parang sections of the Marawi City-Cotabato Road and the Kidapawan and Pangalungan sections of the Digos-Cotabato City Road.

Last year, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said it would be focusing aid on Mindanao.

Gloria Steele, the Filipino-American head of the USAID office in Manila, had told the INQUIRER the region remained to be “USAID’s top priority because that’s where the need is greatest,” pointing to a region where literacy and maternal and child mortality rates have been the highest all these years.

In Mindanao, the USAID has over 30 development projects, including basic infrastructure like ports, road and bridges, and assistance to rural banks which provide loans and other banking services to micro-enterprises.