Salintubig program benefits over 200,000 households

A total of 219,478 households or 1,318,868 people are now benefitting from 396 potable water projects in waterless municipalities that have been completed for the first four months of 2016 through the Sagana at Ligtas ng Tubig sa Lahat (Salintubig) Program, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento said the Salintubig Program provides potable water supply systems to waterless municipalities, waterless barangays, health centers, and resettlement sites with low service coverage, high incidence of poverty and water-borne diseases.

“Alam nating lahat na ang tubig ay buhay kaya sinisikap natin na magkaroon ang ating mga kababayan sa malalayong lugar ng mapagkukunan ng malinis na maiinom na tubig,” said Sarmiento.

Apart from the completed projects, the DILG secretary said the department is also monitoring the progress of 182 on-going projects on potable water supply, 88 projects on procurement, 178 projects with approved feasibility study, and 381 projects on preparation of initial documents.

Sarmiento said the preparation of initial documents like detailed engineering design (DED), program of work (POW) and feasibility study (FS) takes about five months to complete. The procurement process takes another two months, the implementation process takes 10 1/2 months before the project is completed, and the sustainability phase takes two weeks.

For several years now, the DILG has been implementing Salintubig projects across the country. In 2012, the department provided P770 million for the implementation of 262 potable-water supply projects in 171 local government units (LGUs). Of these, 254 have been completed, seven are on-going, and one is on procurement stage.

The DILG’s response to the need for potable water continued in 2013 with the department allocating P640.27 million to 154 LGUs for the implementation of 181 potable-water supply projects. By the end of April 2016, 104 of these projects have been completed, 65 are on-going construction, three are on procurement, eight have approved initial documents, and one is on preparation stage of initial documents.

By 2014, the DILG provided P517.73 million to 111 LGUs for the programmed 117 potable-water supply projects. Of these, 34 have been completed, 49 are on-going construction, 19 are on procurement process, 13 have approved initial documents, and two are on preparation stage.

The department increased its focus on potable-water supply projects in 2015 with P1.512 billion provided to 243 LGUs for the 665 projects. Out of this, four have been completed, 61 are on-going, 65 are on procurement, 157 have approved documents, and 378 are on initial preparation stage.