THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) opened Monday a 2.6-kilometer elevated highway connecting the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) south to C3 in Caloocan City, west to R10 in Navotas, then south to the harbor area in Manila.
All these years, huge freight trucks hauling goods from North and Central Luzon to the piers in Manila had to pass through the traffic-jammed streets of Quezon City, Caloocan, and Manila. They now have this new route over western Metro Manila, Secretary Mark Villar of the Department of Public Works and Highways said.
Still in the works is the other major elevated highway connecting NLEX and South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) over eastern Metro Manila. With these two elevated highways, traffic is expected to ease considerably in Metro Manila, particularly along Epifanio delos Santos Ave. (EDSA).
These elevated highways are part of the Build, Build, Build (BBB) program launched by the Duterte administration as soon as it assumed office in 2016. For this year 2020, this nationwide program for the construction of roads and bridges, airports and seaports, schools and other government buildings is funded with the P580.9-billion budget of the DPWH and the P99.4-billion budget of the Department of Transportation (DoTr).
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has forced the government to carry out unexpected projects like food and cash aid for millions of people who have been forced to stop working and stay at home in lockdowns all over the country. The government has had to realign its available funds.
Global credit watcher Fitch Solutions has noted that government public works disbursements were down in the first quarter of 2020 to P156.1 billion, 18.3 percent below the allocated P191.1 billion. It has also been noted that the DPWH budget for 2020 has already been reduced by P123 billion to P457.9 billion, while the DOTr budget has been reduced by about P9 billion to P90.5 billion. The Build, Build, Build program may thus be affected this year.
The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over here and around the world and our government will be needing more funds in the coming weeks and months to meet the cost of unexpected hospitalizations as well as social amelioration programs for the poor. All this has been at the expense of many government programs.
We can only hope that the pandemic will soon be over and we can resume as originally planned and scheduled our many ambitious plans for the country, such as Build, Build, Build, for which this administration is expected to be cited among all Philippine administrations.
