GMA forms ‘pro-performance’ team to ensure no delays in infra projects

President Arroyo has ordered the creation of a “pro-performance” team that would ensure the implementation of the administration’s infrastructure projects over the next three years.

Presidential Management Staff (PMS) chief Cerge Remonde, in an interview over dzRB, said the President has instructed his office to come up with the team that would look into the delays being experienced in various infrastructure projects and find ways to speed up their implementation.

Remonde said the team would be tasked with taking away all the impediments to the projects and would also ensure that the contracts involved are transparent.

The President has made it a priority to implement numerous infrastructure projects in her last three years in office as part of her social payback commitment.

In her State of the Nation Address last July, the President said that the government would be investing hundreds of billions in human and physical infrastructure over the next three years.

The President said that the government would invest in physical, intellectual, legal and security infrastructure to increase business confidence.

According to the President, by providing the entire vital infrastructure, more investors would come to the country and this would then result to more jobs for the people.

While the government has the funds available for the projects, various impediments stand in the way resulting in delay in its implementation.

These impediments range from right-of-way issues to the activities of lawless elements, particularly in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

The President has tasked the PMS on numerous occasions to find solutions to delays the implementation of government projects.

One such area being addressed by the PMS is the rehabilitation and reconstruction activities in the areas affected by the typhoons that hit the country last year.

In an earlier interview, Remonde noted that the utilization of the Calamity Assistance and Rehabilitation Effort (CARE) budget under the 2007 General Appropriations Act is not being maximized.

Remonde pointed out that around P7 billion of the P10 billion CARE fund was allocated by the national government and Congress for the rebuilding efforts of the affected areas but the release of these funds is not going as fast as wanted.

He said that the PMS has been following up and coordinating with the various agencies to speed up the implementation of the projects to be financed by the CARE funds.