MANILA - The government may front-load as much as P2.5 billion to ensure the “timely” completion of several priority infrastructure projects, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

Presidential Management Staff (PMS) head Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said in a news briefing that he had proposed the front-loading of funds during the Cabinet meeting, which he will further discuss with Budget Secretary  Rolando Andaya Jr. so that the amount “will just be enough for the works that are involved up to end of the year.”

Esperon said the P2.5 billion may be sourced from the calamity fund.

The projects are the Camanava Flood Control and Drainage Improvement Project, Cansaga Bay Bridge of the Cebu North Coastal Road Project, Cebu Provincial Road linking to the Cansaga Bay Bridge, and the Dinagat-Loreto section of the Dinagat Island Road Network Project.

He said the PMS report placed “emphasis on the completion of as many projects as possible till the end of the year, probably until March 2010.”

The government, said Esperon, is also releasing funds for the Maharlika Highway from Calbayog to Allen, Samar, to speed up the project implementation, especially as it will “enhance mobility and transport of goods and services from Luzon, Samar and Leyte.”

The rehabilitation of the portion of the highway between Tacloban City in Leyte to Catbalogan City in Samar has reduced travel time by as much as three hours.

Esperon also reported that the Light Rail Transit Authority is expected to complete civil works for the Closing the Loop Project—which links LRT 1 to MRT 3—in December 2009, but which will be operational in February next year.

The Arroyo administration has constructed and rehabilitated 17,299.54 kilometers of farm-to-market roads worth P24.17 billion, and that more roads will be built in the coming months when fair weather is expected; and P67.71-billion worth of irrigation facilities for 1.5 million hectares were set up as well, said Esperon.

The government has energized 41,234 barangays, or 98.2% of the total number of barangays in the country, as of October 2009, and relocated 85,554 families affected by the Northrail, Northrail-Southrail and the North Luzon Expressway-President Carlos P. Garcia (C5)-South Luzon Expressway Projects from 2003 to 2009.