MORE than three years after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Central Visayas, the rehabilitation of damaged key government infrastructures under the Bohol Earthquake Assistance project of the Interior department is almost complete.
DILG Secretary Ismael Sueno said of the 1,076 projects under the BEA program, 908 or 84.39 percent are completed, 132 (12.27 percent) are under implementation, 31 (2.88 percent) are on procurement stage, 2 (0.19 percent) have approved initial document, and the remaining 3 (0.28 percent) are under preparation of initial document.
“I am happy to note the lives of our kababayans mostly in Bohol and some in Cebu are now back to normal with the rehabilitated key government facilities in the respective localities,” Sueno said, adding by the end of 2017 all BEA projects shall have been completed.
The BEA Project covers the reconstruction, repair and rehabilitation of various barangay facilities (barangay hall, day care center, barangay health station), bridges, civic centers, markets, municipal buildings, and water supply systems in the provinces of Bohol and Cebu, two of the severely affected provinces during the 7.2 magnitude earthquake on Oct. 15, 2013.
Sueno said the Department prioritized the rehabilitation of damaged key local government facilities so as not to disrupt the delivery of fast and efficient services to the public.
The BEA-DILG Project has an initial funding of P2.413 billion for the repair/rehabilitation/reconstruction of partially and totally-damaged key government facilities with due consideration to Build Back Better designs for disaster resilient public infrastructure.
It covers 52 towns and cities in Bohol and Cebu as well as the Province of Bohol.
Sueno said provincial governments had their hands full in carrying out several BEA projects almost all at the same time, considering they had to handle an average of 24 to as many as 75 projects like in the case of Buenavista, Bohol.
Big ticket projects costing P5 million and above took longer to complete because of the magnitude of needed works to restore the building to its previous form or even better, the Interior chief said.