Despite the challenges brought by the covid-19 pandemic, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Regional Office 1 and its 10 District Engineering Offices were still able to implement and complete in 2020 a total of 94 road construction and improvement projects, 50 bridge construction and repair/retrofitting, as well as 65 flood-control projects.
DPWH Secretary Mark A. Villar lauding the outstanding performance of Regional Director Ronnel M. Tan as head of the DPWH Regional Office 1 said that road projects completed include national primary, secondary, and tertiary roads. It is composed of 36.77 kilometers of newly-built, rehabilitated, and widened road; 7.97 kilometers of road opened; 4.61 kilometers of asphalted road; and 2.95 kilometers of road drainage with combined cost of P1.97 Billion.
Under its bridge accomplishment, DPWH Region 1 completed the construction of 50 bridges as well as the rehabilitation/retrofitting of 32 others in the total amount of P1.28 Billion.
Other projects completed in Ilocos Region comprising Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte that were funded by DPWH 2020 budget include 403 Local Infrastructure Projects (LIP), 74 local roads, drainage, flood-control projects under Various Infrastructure including Local Projects (VILP), 10 rain water collector systems, and two (2) national building programs.
Also in 2020, various convergence and special support programs funded by the Department of Agriculture, Department of Education, Department of Tourism (Tourism Road Infrastructure Program-TRIP) and other government agencies were also built which include the 12 farm-to-market roads with a total length of 15.25 kilometers costing P149.5 Million; 15 school building projects costing P137.61 Million; 26 tourism road projects with combined length of 24.1 kilometers costing P495.9 Million; two (2) access road projects to airport costing P115 Million and two (2) access road to seaport costing P118.2 Million under Kalsada Tungo sa Paliparan, Riles at Daungan (KATUPARAN).
DPWH Regional Office 1 also accomplished: 14 Roads Leveraging Linkages of Industry and Trade Projects (ROLL-IT) covering the construction and improvement of 11.52 kilometers of road costing P404.96 Million; eight (8) DPWH-Department of National Defense Programs (Tatag Imprastraktura para sa Kapayapaan at Seguridad Program or TIKAS) amounting to P144.98 Million; two (2) evacuation centers costing P72 Million; 21 Disaster-related rehabilitation projects costing P545.81 Million; and conversion of 15 evacuation centers and 15 local buildings as COVID-19 health facilities.
“These infrastructure projects completed are now directly and indirectly benefiting Ilocanos. With the Build Build Build Program, we hope to complete more projects in the years to come,” said Secretary Villar.