Mindanao gets biggest chunk of infra budget

DAVAO CITY- Mindanao will get a P30-billion infrastructure fund, the largest chunk of the country's infrastructure budget in 2015.

This was revealed by Romeo Montenegro, director for Investment Promotions and Public Affairs who said the fund is about 30% of the national budget for infrastructure.

"This is essentially part of the continous lobbying... which is for Mindanao to be getting a better share of national budget allocation for public works within the vicinity of 30 to 34%." Montenegro said.

The budget will cover all public works projects like roads, bridges.

"The big ticket projects will be those major highways connecting key major areas in Mindanao, it will also be complementing the other ODA (Official Development Assistance) projects particularly the continuing effort to upgrade the AH 26 (Asean Highways) in Mindanao." Montenegro bared. Identified Asean Highways are General Santos to Davao, to Butuan then traversing to Visayas all the way to Luzon.

The implementation of these major infrastructure projects are very much pursued with MinDA under the strategy outlined in the Mindanao Logistics Corridor.

Under the strategy all  infrastructure projects including farm-to-market roads will be implemented in areas where there is viability in connecting products/production centers to market centers and export gateways.

For as long as an infrastructure connects a production center like plantations to a gateway (port) automatically it will be considered as a priority project even though it is a municipal road.

Montenegro hopes these projects will be implemented and completed within this year. (PIA/RG Alama)