THE MARCOS administration might be able to distribute only 100,000 housing units next year under the government’s housing program, which has a target of building a million units per year, according to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
“I think we can already deliver more than a hundred thousand by next year because some are still being constructed,” DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar told reporters on the sidelines of an inspection of a housing project site in San Ferdinando City, Pampanga on Monday.
He said construction work is taking more time as vertical housing units are more difficult to build than horizontal row houses. “Some are 12-storey, the others are 25-storey. If it’s 25-storey, the construction could last for almost two years and if it is 12-storey, it’s one year and a half.”
President Marcos, Jr. has set a goal of building six million housing units during his six-year term under the so-called Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Housing (4PH) Project, listed as one of his government’s flagship programs.
Mr. Acuzar said searching for idle lands is among the major difficulties facing the department in implementing the program.
He also cited delays in the bidding process.
“We could probably achieve one million [houses] in the pipeline,” he said. “It’s not that fast to accomplish projects. We will still plan it, look for lands, and there’s this bidding process especially if it is a local government property.”
“If you bid that, it might take six months for the documentation,” he added. “That’s why our government is looking for ways to fast-track the bidding process.”
Still, the goal of having six million houses by the end of Mr. Marcos’ six-year term is achievable, Mr. Acuzar said.
He said at least 20 housing projects are already being constructed in different parts of the country. “In a year’s time, we might construct 50 projects.” — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
