Double Whammy: Pinalalayas na, Pinagkakakitaan pa! Overpriced Projects to Displace 100,000 Families

Gabriela Women’s Partylist Representative Liza Largoza Maza today scored infrastructure projects, which, aside from being overpriced, bodes displacement for over 100,000 urban poor families.

“Kabi-kabilang sampal sa maralita ang mga proyektong ito. Pinalalayas ka na, ninanakawan at pinagkakakitaan ka pa. It’s double whammy. Overpriced infrastructure deals that benefit the few are not only depriving hunderds of thousands of families of the services that public funds could have otherwise provided; now their homes are being demolished,” said Rep. Maza.

Maza said projects like the Php 14.1B C5 North Extension (C5NE) project and the $932M Southrail Rehabilitation and Extension which, upon implementation, are set to displace over 100,000 families, are both marred with allegations of overpricing and corruption.

The Gabriela solon explained that while the SONA technical report allocates Php12.77B to the 22km, eight-lane highway C5NE project. This simply means that the C5NE costs Php72.53M per kilometer, per lane which is Php51.53M to Php53.53M higher than the usual DPWH estimates of Php19M to Php21M per kilometer, per lane.

What’s worse, an additional Php1.4B appears to have been siphoned into the C5NE project from various items in the national budget such as “Segment I of NLEX-SLEX connections via C5″ and “7 Major Metro Manila roads”, bringing the total allocation to Php14.1B.

The C5NE project set to begin implementation in the first quarter of 2008 will displace an estimated 40,000 families in 10 barangays in Quezon City, including those in the University of the Philippines, in Diliman.

Meanwhile, an estimated 100,000 families living along the railroad tracks from Alabang, Muntinlupa  to San Pedro, Laguna up to Tagkawayan, Quezon will also be displaced with the implementation of the the $932M Southrail project which ZTE-NBN witness Rodolfo Jun Lozada has alleged to be overpriced by $70M.

Urban poor leaders and affected residents of the said projects met with Rep. Maza who is set to deliver her privileged speech today. Gabriela Women’s Party is seeking an investigation into the implementation of the said infrastructure projects to look into the displacement of families and their consequent programs of relocation as well as into allegations of overpricing. “We are hoping to suspend the implementation of these anomalous projects until everything has been cleared.” #