Monday, February 22, 2016

P11-B Released for School InfrastructureAbad: Structures to be Affordable and Environmentally Friendly



The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released P11.2 billion to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the provision and maintenance of basic education facilities, including elementary and secondary schools, technical-vocational laboratories, and water and sanitation facilities.


The amount, sourced from the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Basic Education Facilities Fund in the 2016 General Appropriations Act (GAA), was released to DPWH in accordance with their role as the official construction arm of the government.

“In 2014, we closed the classroom gap we inherited and we’ve built over 86,000 classrooms since 2010. This latest release is the next step towards ensuring that Filipino students have ample room to learn, given the implementation of the K-12 program and the growing population of students,” Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said.

The breakdown for the release, broken down into four batches, saw P10.43 billion allotted towards school buildings and P365 million for technical-vocational laboratories. While the infrastructure will be constructed by DPWH, DepEd will identify and prescribe the standards and specifications of these buildings.

“DPWH and DepEd will work together to design plans for these infrastructure projects. We want to ensure that any public works resulting from this release must be environmentally friendly and built at an efficient cost,” Secretary Abad added.

Aside from the four batches of releases for education infrastructure, DBM also released P523.56 million for the provision of school furniture, including desks and other fixtures, for newly constructed school buildings, with P300.4 million coming from the 2015 GAA and the remaining P223.2 million sourced from the current year’s budget. (pr/DBM)

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