MAASIN CITY – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) field office here and Department of Education (DepEd) will soon start the construction of 55 two-story school buildings in Southern Leyte province under the Basic Educational Facilities Fund.
Under the DepEd-approved project list, 22 units are included in batch 12 with P457.08 million budget, and 33 units under batch 13 with P576.57 million allocation. These projects will be financed through the 2017 allocation for education facilities.
DPWH Southern Leyte district engineering chief Ma. Margarita C. Junia said their office rushed to complete pre-construction activities and bid out all projects before the expiration of special allotment release order on December 31, 2017.
Each unit will have an average of eight classrooms. It will have upgraded designs enough to withstand typhoons and earthquakes.
“All these new facilities are disaster-resilient. Its structural components such as footing, columns, and beams will be expanded based on the upgraded standard designs of DPWH and DepEd,” said Junia.
Of the 55 buildings, 13 will rise in Maasin City; six in Bontoc town, four each in Libagon, St. Bernard, Pintuyan, Pintuyan, Silago, and Bontoc; three each in Liloan and Macrohon; two each in San Francisco, Sogod, Anahawan, Hinundayan, San Ricardo, San Juan, Malitbog; and one each in Hinunangan and Limasawa towns.
Aside from the high rise school buildings, 13 one-story units worth P38.73 million are also included in batch 12. Two buildings are meant for each of the towns of Bontoc, Hinunangan, and St. Bernard; and one each in Silago, Libagon, San Francisco, Malitbog, Anahawan, Hinundayan, and Silago towns.
In the last quarter of the year, the district engineering office has already bid out 47 school building projects under batch four and seven, which was initially included in DepEd fund release.
“This is literally a massive school building projects for this year. If completed, including the previous batches, there will be a total of 550 new classrooms for the province,” Junia said.
Overall, the school building projects for Southern Leyte will cost P 1.21 billion covering construction of K-12 classrooms and technical vocational laboratories. (PR)
