The Philippine government has allotted P451.8 billion to fund its infrastructure programs in 2015 to address last year’s issue of underspending.
Of the total, the Department of Public Works and Highways received the highest share with P303.2 billion, a 37.9% increase from P219.9 billion last year. From that budget, P185.8 billion will be allotted for the completion of all bridges along national roads by 2015 and all national roads by 2016.
The Department of Transportation and Communications has been given a budget of P59.5 billion in 2015, higher by 21.9% compared to last year’s P48.8 billion. The funds will be used for, among others, the P10.6-billion improvement works on the country’s railway systems (including rehabilitation and extension of Light Rail Transit Lines 1 and 2, and the subsidy for Metro Rail Transit 3) and the P15.4-billion development endeavor for various airports and seaports.
Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture (DA) was allocated P89.1 billion, 11.5% more compared with its 2014 budget of P80 billion. This will be used in a number of agricultural infrastructure programs that involve construction of irrigation projects, farm-to-market roads, and fishery facilities like fish landings and fish ports.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said the early enactment of the 2015 General Appropriations Act will power this year’s public spending through the national government’s massive infrastructure programs.
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said, “Last year’s underspending issue will be addressed by the increase in our infrastructure investments, which is equivalent to four percent of our projected GDP for this year. Ultimately, we’re targeting an infrastructure spending level of five percent by 2016.”
DBM also noted major public-private partnership projects in the offing, such as the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Toll Expressway, the Daang Hari-SLEX Link Project, the North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway Link Connector, the Cavite-Laguna Expressway, the Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike, and the NAIA Expressway.
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