DPWH Eastern Visayas completes 571 projects in 2017

TACLOBAN CITY, Feb. 15  -- At least 571 infrastructure projects had been completed in Eastern Visayas region in 2017 as the government poured more investments in widening of roads and upgrading of bridges.

Edgar Tabacon, Regional Director of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), said on Thursday that the region has constructed and upgraded 369 roads, 182 bridges and 102 flood control structures.

The DPWH regional office here also implemented 416 non-regular projects such as local roads, farm-to-market roads, local bridges, water systems, school building, multi-purpose government facilities, day care centers, and health facilities.

The regional office received PHP23.48 billion of the PHP32 billion approved budget for the year in Eastern Visayas. The remaining funds will be used to finance 233 ongoing projects and 30 projects intended for last year.

“We achieved about 70 percent accomplishment last year, lower than the 80 percent completion rate target because of the many challenges beyond our control,” Tabacon said.
Major setbacks were road right of way acquisition issues, limited capacity of contractors, unfavorable weather, delayed bidding, among others.

Tabacon told Philippine News Agency (PNA) that they are taking notes of the reasons why some projects were delayed and are to carry out measures to improve their performance in 2018.

Among the strategies are the early bidding of projects, come up with detailed plans late, and help contractors improve their capability.

The DPWH regional office here implements big ticket projects and supervises the performance of 13 district engineering offices in Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar, and Southern Leyte provinces. (SQM/PNA)