Northern Samar needs PHP17.97-B post-disaster recovery projects

TACLOBAN CITY, July 2 (PNA) --Some PHP17.97 billion government investments are needed from 2016 to 2020 to build back Northern Samar “better and safer” after typhoon Nona ravaged the province late last year, the provincial government reported.

Governor Jose L. Ong hopes the new administration will response favorably to their proposal after the Eastern Visayas Regional Development Council approved the 159-page post-Nona rehabilitation and recovery plan.

“The plan contains the ongoing and proposed programs, projects and activities of the provincial 

government, the 19 key national government agencies, and the University of Eastern Philippines, 

which all play vital roles and united in one common goal to restore Northern Samar’s socio-economic conditions,” Ong said.

Out of the PHP17.97 billion request for the total recovery efforts, PHP6.52 billion are for infrastructure, PHP727.99 for productive sector, PHP9.22 for social sector, and PHP1.5 billion for cross sector.

Infrastructure sector covers roads, bridges, ports, seaports, airport, government buildings, flood control, water supply, power supply, telecommunications, irrigation systems, tourism infrastructure, and state university and colleges.

Interventions for social sector focus on rehabilitation of housing; health services; food and nutrition; and education.

Rehabilitation and recovery interventions that focus to provide and restore employment and income after Nona are listed under the productive sector. This sector is broken down into sub-sectors - agriculture, industry, trade and services.

The cross sector provides the interventions dealing on disaster risk reduction and management, social protection, ecological solid waste management and waste water management, and environment.

“All the proposed programs, projects and activities are geared towards making the province resilient to disaster and a safer place to live,” Ong said.

The bulk of post-Nona rehabilitation and recovery program are on infrastructure, which is pegged at around PHP6.521 billion spread over the four-year implementation period. This constitutes 36 percent of the total public investment requirements.

“The rationale behind such appropriation is that public and private sectors production and service delivery cannot be possibly started without the necessary infrastructure support,” the governor explained.

Typhoon Nona struck the province on December 14, 2015, affecting 112,655 families and left a trail of destruction across all sectors amounting to PHP14.39 billion, according to the post-disaster assessment of the Office of the Civil Defense.

Northern Samar is one of the three provinces in Samar Island. It is a part of Eastern Visayas region.

The province is classified as second class, and has a total land area of 3,498 square kilometers. It is composed of 24 towns and 569 villages, with Catarman as the provincial capital. (PNA)
ZST/SARWELL Q. MENIANO