Expect thousands of ongoing projects on roads, bridges, flood control, classrooms and evaluation centers to be completed before the end of the Duterte administration, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Mark Villar, DPWH secretary, said in a statement yesterday by the time President Duterte steps out of office in 2022, ongoing projects which include 15,134 kilometers of road construction, rehabilitation and widening; 1,859 bridge rehabilitation, retrofitting, replacement and widening; 4,155 flood-control projects; 17,647 classrooms, 186 school workshop buildings and 99 evacuation centers are set to be finished.
“We are confident and we are really pushing to achieve our goal that by the end of this administration, every Filipino will be able to reap the benefits of these infrastructure projects that they very much deserve,” said Villar.
DPWH said in the last five years it has implemented almost a threefold more projects than any administration in the last five decades.
President Duterte in his last State of the Nation Address Monday lauded DPWH for its accomplishments from 2016 to 2020, and also directed the government to finish the flagship projects.
“And to sustain our momentum in infrastructure development, I have directed the DPWH, DOTr (Department of Transportation), NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority), Department of Finance and DBM (Department of Budget and Management) to be on full speed to ensure that our flagship projects will be completed within my term, especially those that would help disperse economic activity outside the densely populated Metro Manila,” Duterte said.
From 2016 to 2020, DPWH’s Build, Build, Build program was able to accomplish public infrastructure projects amounting to P2.5 trillion, as compared to the P820.4 billion from 2011 to 2015, an increase of 209 percent or P1.7 trillion worth of projects.
With the increase in infrastructure investment, DPWH said it was also able to generate as much as 6.6 million jobs nationwide from 2016 to 2020. An estimated 1.6 million jobs are seen to be generated from the 2021 budget of DPWH.
From July 2016 to May 2021, DPWH was able to deliver the construction, maintenance, improvement and widening of a total of 29,264 km. of roads; the construction, widening, rehabilitation, replacement and retrofitting of 5,950 bridges nationwide; as well as finish a total of 11,340 flood prevention, mitigation and control projects.
DPWH also said a total of 223 new evacuation centers were built that are now benefiting calamity-stricken communities and areas with high COVID-19 cases.
In convergence with the Department of Education, it said a total of 150,149 classrooms were also built to aid public schools with classroom shortage nationwide.
School workshop buildings were likewise built all over the country to assist students and teachers, with a total of 949 buildings in Luzon, 464 buildings in Visayas and 651 buildings in Mindanao, DPWH added.
