GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/20 March) — Around P190 million worth of infrastructure projects funded by the national government and the provincial government of South Cotabato have been completed in the area in the last 14 months.
Marnilo Aperocho, South Cotabato Provincial Engineer’s Office (PEO) chief, said Thursday the completed infrastructure projects represent about 63 percent of around P300.2 million worth of projects that were funded and implemented by the provincial government and other government agencies since January last year.
He said the implementation of the remaining P110.69 million worth of projects is still ongoing in various parts of the province’s 10 towns and in Koronadal City, the provincial capital.
The completed and ongoing projects, which totaled 159 components, are comprised of 108 buildings, 19 roads, nine drainage and lined canals, six flood-control structures, five box culverts and five secondary structures, four bridges and three water systems, Aperocho said.
Some of these projects were partly funded by national government agencies, among them the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Agriculture (DA) and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).
Aperocho said the completed projects include 68 buildings, 17 roads, six drainage and lined canals, five flood control structures, three box culverts, three bridges, two water systems and five secondary structures.
“We’re targeting to complete all the remaining projects before the end of the year,” he said.
Aside from these projects, Aperocho said several other major infrastructure initiatives are in the pipeline for implementation in the province this year.
He said these include the completion of the provincial hospital annex or the Upper Valley Community Hospital in Surallah town and the three-story U-shape building at the provincial capitol in Koronadal City.
The local government has also endorsed the funding and implementation this year of a three-story extension building for the provincial hospital, he said.
Aperocho said the DA has set the implementation of several food security road projects in the towns of Polomolok, Tupi, Banga, Surallah and T’boli.
He said TIEZA recently issued the go-signal for the commencement of the tourism road projects worth around P30 million in Barangay Linan in Tupi and in Lake Sebu town.
“These are programmed for implementation and completion within the year,” he added. (MindaNews)