• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Noting that majority of the big ticket projects are in Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental Governor Manuel Sagarbarria, chairperson of the Regional Development Council-Negros Island Region, said they are hoping to balance out the projects in the region starting next year.
Sagarbarria, who presided the 4th Quarter RDC-NIR Full Council Meeting on Dec. 4 in Bacolod City, noted that the 30 top infrastructure projects in the region are located in Negros Occidental.
He cited the Panay-Guimaras-Negros (PGN) bridge and Negros Occidental Economic Highway, among others.
Sagarbarria said the bulk of the budget in the Negros Occidental side is for the improvement of hospitals, infrastructure projects, and farm-to-market roads, “which is understandable because it is the biggest among the three provinces”.
Edward Du, RDC Infrastructure Development Committee chairperson, reported that the Negros Occidental Economic Highway is now 58.88 percent completed while the detailed engineering design of PGN is in 96.22 percent completion.
Negros Oriental 3rd District Rep. Janice Degamo presented the proposed District Safety Surveillance Program, which would involve installing closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems to improve public safety, deter crime, and enhance law enforcement capabilities.
The proposed program would include installing high-definition, weatherproof, and night-vision-enabled CCTV cameras in strategic locations and establishing a district command center to monitor the feeds.
The proposal of Degamo was endorsed by RDC-NIR to the national government for budget appropriations. | GB
