The ‘Road-to-nowhere’ project seeks additional P414M funds by 2021

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Panfilo Lacson found that a road infrastructure project leading to “nowhere” has a requested allocation of P414.5 million in the proposed national budget for 2021.

During Senate plenary debates on the proposed budget on Wednesday, Lacson pointed to the construction of the eastern inner ring road in the city of Cagayan de Oro, which has already cost the government about P1.3 billion from 2015 to 2020. .

“I questioned this particular project in 2017 because the right of way issue has not been resolved. At the time, my argument was that we should first resolve the right-of-way issues before we even finance construction, ”Lacson said.

The senator said his office spoke with an infrastructure official in the region, who said the project is no longer “viable or feasible.”

“We spoke with the regional director and he said that the construction of the tunnel has never been infringement or feasible. So neglected, ”Lacson said.

“Will we be able to appropriate P414 million again after spending P1.3 billion on a project that is no longer feasible?” added.

‘Find the difference’

Additionally, Lacson noted that from January 2019 to October 2020, there does not appear to be any visible change to the project.

“We came back last month … Please spot the difference,” Lacson told his colleagues.

Prior to this, he also pointed to several infrastructure projects, which remain unfinished despite having received millions of funds in recent years, seeking additional funding from the 2021 budget.

Sen. Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate finance committee, said he would be open to amendments to realign budget requests for such “skeletal” projects.

“Maybe we give the project proponents, the agencies in charge of implementing these projects, to give them the opportunity to respond,” Angara said as well.

EDV

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