LAMITAN CITY — The Ministry of Public Works (MPW) announced on Sunday that its validating team inspected 105 infrastructure projects in Basilan Province funded by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) government.

Following the inspection, over 40 of the projects have been completed and are ready to be turned over to the local government units in the province.

MPW Basilan District Engineer Kasim A. Hasanin said the team visited and conducted an inspection last week of about 105 infrastructure projects funded and implemented in 2022-2024. They evaluated the performance of the contractors in the implementation of these projects.

“The team also evaluated all ongoing infrastructure projects funded from 2022-2024 and the performance of the contractors in the implementation of the projects in the province,” the MPW-BDEO chief said.

While they found some infrastructure projects incurring a “negative slippage,” these were all justified by the contractors and accepted by the MPW validating team.

To recall, BARMM-MPW has allotted MPW-Basilan District Engineering Office P1.478 billion worth of various infrastructure projects this year; P1.298 billion in 2023; and P1.189 billion in 2022.

Another team from the MPW regional office arrived in the province and conducted a two-day interview of applicants to fill up 16 vacant positions at the MPW-BDEO.

Hasanin said these vacant positions are in the procurement, construction, planning, and quality control sections. Additionally, MPW-BDEO has no vacant position for engineers in the engineering section.

Hasanin identified the vacant positions as procurement management officers, administrative officers, and heavy equipment operators.