Australia provides P3.8 billion to improve road infrastructure

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines and Australia agreed to work on a five-year project for the management and maintenance of more than 1,000 kilometers of provincial roads in 10 provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Rod Smith and Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno formally signed the P3.8-billion agreement for a provincial road management facility to cover the five-year project.

Under the agreement, the Australian government, through its international development agency AusAID, will provide about A$100 million (P3.8 billion) for the project. The contribution was announced by Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, at the Philippines-Australia Ministerial Meeting in Manila last October.

“Australia is working with the Philippine government at both the national and local levels to increase investments in transport infrastructure. In partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government and provincial governments, the facility aims to boost the local economy by improving road transport,” Smith said.

With the project, an estimated four million people will have better access to rehabilitated and maintained road networks, economic activity and public infrastructure and services that will improve their livelihoods by 2014. Better roads will also improve access to jobs, health services and essential social and educational facilities in rural and regional areas.