Budget Department releases P1.96B for classroom, highway builds

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released P1.96 billion for classroom-construction and expressway projects under the Aquino administration’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program.

 

Of the total amount, P1.63 billion will be used to cover the first-year lease payment for the Public-Private Partnership for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP) of the Department of Education.

 

The PSIP, the second PPP project awarded by the government, involves the design, construction, and maintenance of 9,301 classrooms, school furniture and toilet facilities in various school sites in Regions I, III, and IV-A.

 

“President Aquino intends to fill the longstanding classroom gap in our public school system. By working closely with the private sector, we can expedite classroom construction and do it in a cost-efficient way, so that our students and teachers will have enough classrooms by 2013,” Abad said.

 

According to the DBM, the government will make an annual payment of P1.63 billion until 2021 to acquire the classrooms that were built through private sector initiatives.

 

The budget will be charged against the DepEd’s appropriation for Requirement(s) for Basic Educational Facilities in the 2012 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

 

Meanwhile, the DBM also approved the release of P328 million to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in preparation for the construction of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx).

 

The TPLEx, which will pass from Tarlac City to La Union is 88.58 kilometers long. It is a two-lane expressway which is expected to be opened to the public in May 2013.

 

The right-of-way acquisition cost amounts to P327.8 million, and is chargeable against the PPP Strategic Support Fund under DPWH's budget in the 2012 GAA, Abad said.

 

The remaining P180,000 will be used to purchase tree seedlings to replace trees that were cut or displaced by the construction. — DVM, GMA News