MANILA, Philippines—Stressing the need for immediate action to ease the flooding problem in various parts of the country, the Department of Public Works and Highways has set aside P33.36 billion for at least 130 high-impact flood control projects in 2014, an increase of more than 110 percent from this year’s budget of P15.8 billion.
In a copy of a report furnished the Inquirer on Tuesday, the DPWH said the funds would go to the “maintenance of 11 existing flood control projects and the construction and rehabilitation of 119 other projects” nationwide.
The department’s public information division did not provide details of the 130 projects, some of which are part of an ambitious Master Plan for Metro Manila, which requires funding of P351.72-billion up to 2035.
The list of projects is “still being finalized” by the DPWH planning office, said DPWH information chief Elizabeth Pilorin.
Early this year, the agency said the government had released P3.94 billion for the master plan, which aims to “develop a safe society that is resilient to floods.”
The amount went to the following projects: Valenzuela-Obando-Meycauayan river improvement, P820 million; Phase 1 of the Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas river improvement, P380 million; Upper Marikina River improvement, P222.5 million; Manila Bay seawall rehabilitation, P211.05 million; East Mangahan Floodway dredging, P190 million; Mangahan Floodway dredging, P100 million; and Marikina River dredging, P50 million, among others.
Under the master plan, the DPWH shortlisted 11 structural flood mitigation measures: Pasig-Marikina River improvement and dam construction, P198.43 billion; Manila drainage improvement, P27.5 billion; Cainta-Taytay River improvement, P25.9 billion; West Laguna lakeshore land raising, P25.2 billion; Malabon-Tullahan River improvement, P21.6 billion; South Parañaque-Las Piñas River improvement, P17.3 billion; Meycauayan River improvement, P14.04 billion; Valenzuela-Obando River improvement, P8.61 billion; land raising in small Laguna lakeshore towns, P7.15 billion; West Mangahan drainage improvement, P5.52 billion; and improvement of inflow rivers to Laguna de Bay, P637 million.
In its proposed infrastructure budget of P184.86 billion for 2014, the DPWH also allocated P128.22 billion for the maintenance and rehabilitation of national roads and bridges nationwide, including P14.25 billion for tourism infrastructure projects; P12.48 billion for water supply and local projects; P4.98 billion for Public-Private Partnership projects; P3.01 billion for project feasibility studies and preliminary detailed engineering works; and P2.82 billion for right-of-way and the agency’s other contractual obligations.
Next year, strife-torn Mindanao will get the biggest slice of the national infrastructure budget. The DPWH said that of its proposed capital outlays of P184.84 billion, P34.3 billion is for the southern Philippines.
Of the amount, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will receive P2.85 billion, which is P450 million more than it got this year.
Allocations for other Mindanao regions are: Zamboanga Peninsula, P5.07 billion; northern Mindanao, P9.37 billion; Davao region, P7.39 billion; Soccskargen, P4.11 billion, and Caraga, P5.49 billion.
The country’s other regions will get the following amounts in 2014: Metro Manila, P22.38 billion; northern Luzon, P25.36 billion; southern Luzon, P28.37 billion, and the Visayas, P24.76 billion.
The DPWH budget for capital outlays next year is P40.5 billion more than this year’s, which is P144.36 billion.