BREAKTHROUGH PROJECT. Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Jaime Bautista inspects the lowered tunnel boring machine at the Metro Manila Subway Project North Avenue Station in Quezon City on March 7, 2024. During the House Appropriations Committee hearing for the DOTr’s 2025 budget on Wednesday (Aug. 28, 2024), Bautista highlighted the year-on-year obligated and disbursed budget of the DOTr for the first half of 2024 as "highly efficient" compared to 2023. (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)
MANILA – The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Wednesday highlighted its "highly efficient" disbursement rate of 64.89 percent of its 2024 budget as of July 2024 compared to 2023.
During the House Appropriations Committee hearing for the DOTr’s 2025 budget, DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista said 37.78 percent of the current budget has also already been obligated.
“Year-on-year obligated and disbursed budget has been highly efficient compared to 2023,” Bautista said.
For 2023, the DOTr and its attached agencies received a total of PHP271.360 billion in allotments from various sources, with PHP203.892 billion (75.14 percent of allotments) obligated as of year-end while PHP144.648 billion (70.94 of obligations) was disbursed.
In addition to the disbursement of PHP144.648 billion, the DOTr has also disbursed PHP27.538 billion and PHP25.139 billion for prior years’ accounts payable.
2025 budget
During the budget hearing, Bautista asked for a PHP180.88 billion budget for the DOTr in 2025.
“The total proposed budget for DOTr and its attached agencies is PHP180.894 billion, 144.35 percent higher than our fiscal year (FY) 2024 GAA (General Appropriations Act)-levels. If we consider releases from FY 2024 Unprogrammed Appropriations for Loan Proceeds, this proposed level is only 55.46 percent higher than what we have in the current year,” he said.
Bautista said the proposed budget when compared with the FY 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP), is PHP33.402 billion lower or a reduction of 15.59 percent.
“This discrepancy is mainly on account of our flagship foreign-assisted infrastructure projects, which were included in the 2024 NEP but excluded in the 2024 GAA,” he said.
Bautista assured lawmakers that the agency will continue to advance big-ticket infrastructure projects using its allotted budget.
Infrastructure development, he said, remains a high priority of the administration, with the DOTr pushing for fast-tracking the construction of transport infrastructures and also the expansion of its other projects.
“With the reported accomplishments and still a long list of projects in the pipeline, we bank on the support of Congress to transform our vision into a reality,” he said. (PNA)
