DILG promises P125 M aid for rehab of roads in Cebu province

Cebu Provincial Capitol | CDND File Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu provincial government is set to receive P125 million from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for use in the rehabilitation provincial roads.

The disbursement of the allocation will be made under the Conditional Matching Grant to Provinces (CMGP) program of DILG and the Department of Budget and Management which seeks to help local government units in carrying out infrastructure programs that are located within its jurisdiction.

According to the Cebu Provincial Information Office (PIO), DILG-7 CMGP Coordinator Bernadette Camilo met with Governor Gwendolyn Garcia on March 3 to discuss the program implementation here.

The P125 million allocation will be used to fund this year’s repair, improvement, and rehabilitation of provincial roads, the PIO quoted Camilo as saying.

As a counterpart, the provincial government will have to allocate maintenance funds of P100,000 for every kilometer that will be fixed using the national government allocation.

At least 315 kilometers of provincial roads stretch throughout Cebu, the richest province in the country.

“To download the fund, the local finance committee of Cebu Province must submit public financial management assessment report, improvement plan for 2020, and certification that shows Cebu has sufficient funds to maintain the 315-kilometer provincial roads,” a PIO news release reads.

As soon as the requirements are accomplished, DILG then will endorse the provincial government’s documents to the DBM for approval and for the downloading of said allocation.

For 2020, the Cebu provincial government has set aside a record-high budget of P12 billion. Of the amount, over P3 billion or 33.19 percent is set aside for economic services that include the implementation of infrastructure projects. / dcb