The 17 mayors of Metro Manila comprising the Metro Manila Council (MMC) have approved the proposed P3.5 billion budget of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for 2010, which will now be submitted to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for review and approval.

The appropriated funds will be used for the operation of the MMDA in 2010, said MMDA Chairman Oscar Inocentes during the recent meeting of mayors and representatives of the MMC, the policy-making and governing body of the MMDA.

The agency’s Solid Waste Management Office (SWMO) and Traffic and Transport Management Office (TTMO) will get the biggest shares in the proposed budget, with P1.2 billion and P1.1 billion, respectively.

SWMO manages garbage disposal facilities of the MMDA while TTMO is the agency’s central traffic management arm.

Inocentes said personnel services, maintenance and other operating expenses of all the MMDA departments had been carefully studied by the Committee on Appropriation of the MMC.

“To accelerate the socio-economic growth of Metro Manila, we need to properly tap all available sources of revenue and that funding support shall be given to our priority programs and projects,” Inocentes said.

Moreover, the MMC also formally approved the immediate construction of the housing project of the MMDA in Cavite. The MMC unanimously approved MMDA Resolution No. 10-03 Series of 2010 empowering the agency to use its funds for the construction of the PGMA-MMDA Village in Sitio Paligawan Matanda in Carmona, Cavite.

“This is good news for our beloved employees. With the support of the council, we can now begin construction work and hand out land titles to qualified employees,” Inocentes said.

The MMC, Inocentes said, recognized the need to provide affordable housing units to low-salaried MMDA employees, majority of whom have no house of their own.

The PGMA-MMDA Village is to be constructed at a 65.9-hectare property of the agency in Carmona, which used to be a sanitary landfill.

The MMDA has submitted the required landfill closure plan to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the issuance of the Environmental Compliance Certificate.