THE Department of Public Works and Highways has created a task force that will expedite the acquisition of right-of-way that causes delays in the completion of infrastructure projects nationwide.
Public Works Secretary Mark Villar signed Department Order No. 203 creating the Unified Project Management Office Right-of-Way Task Force that would monitor ROW issues affecting the implementation of UPMO road, bridge and flood control projects nationwide.
He said the task force will be headed by DPWH Undersecretary for UPMO Operations Emil K. Sadain, and Legal Service director Estrella T. Decena-Zaldivar as vice chairman and UPMO Cluster directors as members.
Villar said it will monitor the ROW acquisition status and will recommend appropriate actions for ROW issues.
He said many infrastructures nationwide were behind completion date because of pending ROW cases.
“The creation of the new task force and the processing of ROW claims for UPMO projects will speed up, resulting to a more effective and expeditious completion of urgent infrastructure,” Villar added.
He said the new task force will be responsible for the screening and verification of documents submitted for ROW claims as well as the accuracy of the computation of land valuations and disturbance compensation.
The payment of ROW claims shall only be processed by the concerned District Engineering Offices once the revalidation of submitted documents is made by the UPMO-ROW Task Force.