Poor Rankings Continue as DBM Philippines Releases 39 Billion For Road Improvement

MANILA: It is good to have vehicles that are tested on tough terrains to ensure they can take the punishment from various road conditions. But if roads in your region or country are viewed as a place where these vehicles could be tested, this is not really a good thing. Same is the case with Philippine roads, which have again been given a poor ranking by the World Economic Forum’s global competitiveness index (GCI) for the quality of their roads. According to the report, road quality in the country has been placed almost at the bottom of the table among the ASEAN countries with Myanmar making the last spot. This is certainly a subject of major worry for the Philippine government, as this is the lowest ranking they have ever received since 2010.

But we’re definitely looking at a brighter future for the country’s pothole ridden roads as the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) have decided to invest heavily towards improving their conditions. In the recent turn of events, DBM has announced a massive budget of PhP 39 billion for the project KALSADA, that aims to rehabilitate the country's battered and broken roads. This is certainly a great step towards realizing state-of-the-art motoring and safety for road commuters across the country as compared to the 6.5 billion budget last year. In reality, less than 5,000 kms of roads in the country are paved out of 12000 kms. This is definitely a really harsh figure for the government to swallow as they are surely not very proud of being placed at the bottom of the table.

If we look at the charts, the Philippine roads have seen a major dip as compared to a much higher position in the past 4 years. This means the authorities will have to do some serious rehabilitation if they want to improve their ranking in the future. The program will cover roads in all 81 provinces in the country and will aim to improve up to 830 kms of roads by the end of 2017. They already have ongoing improvement projects in 9 provinces with 13 more projects expected to commence by the year end. The KALSADA will also kickstart new projects in 73 provinces in the Philippines and will aim to cover all 81 eventually. Yes, we know this will take some time but the new investment will certainly result in smooth roads and highways that are a dream to drive on.

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