MANILA, Philippines — The implementation of infrastructure projects has slowed down last year, with only 1,490 structures built by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), but things should speed up in the next few months.

The DPWH was able to reconcile its lists of completed projects in the 16 regions where backlogs in public works projects were mostly evident in the provinces.

“The cause of delays was the bad weather condition especially in the Visayas and Mindanao region,” said DPWH Undersecretary Romeo Momo for Regional Operations.

For 2011, a total of P44.485 billion was poured for the construction of roads, bridges and flood control structures.

This includes the pavement, rehabilitation, maintenance, construction and other related road activities of 2,354.723 kms of national roads; replacement, rehabilitation and construction of new bridges with a total length of 5,220 linear meters, 1,446 kms of local roads and 1,698 lineal meters of local bridges; and, 826 flood control and drainage structures.

However, DPWH records showed that it only completed 1,500 projects nationwide in 2011, during the full-year in office of Secretary Rogelio Singson, compared to 16,212 reported in the previous year.

In Mindanao, the Caraga Region and Soccsksargen fell behind, with 49 and 46 public works projects, respectively.

On the other hand, the DPWH regional office in Ilocos topped the list with 148 completed projects. It is followed by 138 infrastructures finished by the DPWH-National Capital Region.

Other infrastructures were constructed in Region 6, 136, Region 4-A, 132; Central Luzon, 126; Cagayan Valley, 126; and Cordillera Administrative Region, 94; among others.

Economists have argued that a slowdown in government expenditures and underspending would not be good for the economy. Government spending, especially on infrastructures, is argued to help spur economic activity.

But Singson earlier denied there was a deliberate slowdown in fund use, arguing that “we are not here for the sake of spending.”

He explained that he had to overhaul the set-up in the DPWH which involved duplication of funding in the implementation of public works projects.

“The easiest thing for us to do is to spend. But that is not the policy of the Aquino administration. We want to ensure that we spend for the right project, at the right cost,” he said.

The DPWH assured that before Aquino steps down in 2016, backlogs in infrastructure projects would have been completely addressed.

By 2016, the DPWH is aiming to have paved 100 percent of the 15,370 km of national secondary roads and to make a total of 345,978 linear meters of national bridges permanent.

It involves the paving of 4,518 km and rehabilitation of 1,798 km of these national secondary roads, and the replacement of 10,935 linear meters of temporary bridges, reconstruction of 10,954 lineal meters of existing permanent bridges, and the repair and rehabilitation of 40,675 linear meters of national bridges.