"Under the Duterte administration, the CMGP projects will prioritize the provincial core roads."
According to the 2015-2016 Global Competitiveness Report1 by the World Economic Forum, Philippines ranked 90th out of the 140 countries in terms of overall infrastructure and 97th in terms of quality of road infrastructure.
Of the 216,016-km total road network in the Philippines, Provinces maintain 15% or 31,695 kms. for both core and non-core roads.
Provincial core roads total 12,678 kms. or 40%. 7,903 kms. (62%) are still unpaved and for the remaining 4,775 kms. (38%) that are paved (i.e. cemented and/or asphalted), more than half still needs repair or rehabilitation.
So, what happened during the “Daang Matuwid”? Maybe we need to fix the “daan” or roads first to pave the way for progress? Indeed, Government needs to improve road transport efficiency in provincial road networks that serve as feeders to drive the local economy.
Hence, under the Duterte administration, the CMGP projects will prioritize the provincial core roads.
For FY 2016, almost 98% of the allocated KALSADA funds are being utilized for some 207 road projects in 74 provinces spanning a total of 788 kms.
For FY 2017, almost 97% of all 81 Provinces have complied with and are in the process of completing all requirements for their 330 CMGP project implementation to cover an additional 1,202 kms.
The good news is that aside from additional P26.362 Billion CMGP projects for the 81 Provinces, 93 Cities will also be provided with a P9.464 Billion for their core roads or a total of P35.826 Billion proposed CMGP budget for 2018.
For the next 5 years, i.e. 2018-2022, the CMGP target is to upgrade an additional 8,490 kms. to fix an aggregate coverage of 10,480 kms. to sustain the growth momentum.
We hope Congress and all stakeholders will support and approve the continued implementation of CMGP for roads because ito ang tamang daan!