Cotabato City –The Department of Public Works and Highway-Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (DPWH-ARMM) has managed to generate a total of at
least P136.4-million of savings from its 2012 funds, officials disclosed
Thursday.
Emil Sadain, the region’s public
works secretary, said the savings is due to their prudent fiscal handling and
enforcement of transparent procurement and bidding process.
“It is part of the reforms we have
put in place in the agency,” he said.
Sadain said their action follows on
the reforms introduced by the present administration of ARMM Governor Mujiv
Hataman.
“The reforms have allowed us to
maximize the agency’s annual allocation and provide funds for the procurement of
heavy equipment and other expenditures,” he said.
Sadain said that for the first time
in 22 years, DPWH-ARMM was able to acquire heavy equipment, all-purpose
vehicles and survey instruments on its own initiative and without relying on
national funding.
DPWH-ARMM has already earmarked part
of the savings it generated for the procurement of additional equipment this
year, which is set to be delivered in two tranches.
Moreover, the agency intends to
concentrate on building and improving provincial roads and leave the
development of national roads to its national counterpart in order to make the
most of its funding in the succeeding year.
More than half of ARMM’s
infrastructure fund for 2013 is allocated for provincial roads, Sadain
said. (ARMM Comm Group with report by becky d. de asis)
