Workers are seen on scaffolding at a construction site for an expressway in Manila on March 8, 2017. AFP PHOTO
Public infrastructure spending jumped by almost a fifth to P40.1 billion in August as the government paid for completed roads as well as various flood control, health and school facilities.
The latest Department of Budget and Management data showed that expenditures on infrastructure and other capital outlays increased 18.1 percent from P34 billion in August last year.
“The amount includes payments for completed infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (road improvement works, repair and rehabilitation, including flood control projects, construction/improvement of pumping stations, dike and drainage systems), capital outlay projects of the Department of Education (repair and rehabilitation of school facilities) and the Department of Health (land outlays for health facilities and purchase of hospital equipment),” the DBM explained in a report.
Government spending on infrastructure in August, however, was 17.1-percent lower than the P48.4 billion in July.
From January to August, the government spent a total of P337.6 billion on infrastructure as well as other capital outlays, up 11.9 percent from P301.7 billion in the same eight-month period last year.
The DBM attributed infrastructure spending growth at the end of the first eight months to “the implementation of public infrastructure projects of the DPWH (road repair and rehabilitation, flood control projects) and the Department of Transportation (rail and transport infrastructure), other capital outlay projects in state universities and colleges (construction, repair and rehabilitation of school facilities, acquisition of equipment) and the DOH (upgrading of health facilities and purchase of hospital/medical equipment), and the modernization program of the Department of National Defense-Armed Forces of the Philippines (purchase of ammunitions, transport equipment and other defense assets).”
Moving forward, “disbursements for the month of September are expected to be substantial owing to the huge infrastructure spending requirements of the DPWH,” the DBM said.
“The payment for the right-of-way claims for various DPWH projects, as well as the procurement for the respective modernization programs of the DND-AFP and the Department of the Interior and Local Government-Philippine National Police are already ongoing following the release of their allotments in August this year. These are expected to further increase disbursement levels in the succeeding months,” the DBM added. /cbb