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Unit-cost benchmarks

How much does a kilometer of road, a classroom, a pumping station or a meter of flood wall cost? We divide each DPWH contract's cost by the quantity written in its official title, then compare like with like. A high ratio is an anomaly signal for further questions, not evidence of wrongdoing.

National medians

CategoryWork typeProjects25th pctMedian75th pct90th pct
School building, cost per classroomnew school building6,159₱1,322,465₱1,680,166₱2,380,565₱2,858,442
Flood wall / dike / revetment, cost per linear meterdike / levee75₱106,348₱143,397₱501,257₱806,009
Flood wall / dike / revetment, cost per linear meterflood control structure1,099₱74,797₱119,739₱210,263₱311,359
Flood wall / dike / revetment, cost per linear meterrevetment191₱73,521₱136,508₱226,526₱329,994
Pumping station, cost per stationnew construction170₱19,799,969₱48,599,591₱93,589,215₱142,604,241
Road, cost per kmnew paving / upgrading1,576₱15,381,588₱26,892,956₱38,599,990₱56,763,431
Road, cost per kmpreventive maintenance / overlay3,563₱15,385,482₱26,712,514₱44,280,504₱67,160,311
Road, cost per kmrehabilitation / reconstruction1,938₱20,646,654₱28,435,518₱37,798,656₱56,007,157
Road, cost per kmwidening3,057₱27,198,267₱33,654,180₱43,685,817₱59,496,335

By region

School building, cost per classroom: new school building (17 regions with 10+ projects)
National Capital Region289₱2,473,6461.47x national
Region IV-A665₱2,203,1131.31x national
Region V157₱2,018,5531.20x national
Region III829₱1,989,3691.18x national
Region XI637₱1,924,4921.15x national
Region X280₱1,905,9711.13x national
Cordillera Administrative Region93₱1,695,8051.01x national
Region I898₱1,693,9911.01x national
Region VIII172₱1,533,0250.91x national
Region VII117₱1,494,2740.89x national
Region XII257₱1,481,9630.88x national
Region XIII254₱1,441,1320.86x national
Negros Island Region274₱1,416,7350.84x national
Region IX269₱1,381,6410.82x national
Region IV-B302₱1,360,5570.81x national
Region VI296₱1,325,0650.79x national
Region II370₱1,300,3390.77x national
Flood wall / dike / revetment, cost per linear meter: dike / levee (3 regions with 10+ projects)
Region IV-B14₱661,2454.61x national
Region III18₱227,6621.59x national
Region XII21₱143,3971.00x national
Flood wall / dike / revetment, cost per linear meter: flood control structure (16 regions with 10+ projects)
Region X14₱216,0821.80x national
National Capital Region45₱214,4111.79x national
Region III202₱209,1001.75x national
Region IV-A19₱182,7071.53x national
Region II146₱150,7481.26x national
Region V61₱135,1321.13x national
Region VII64₱121,5311.01x national
Region I40₱121,0411.01x national
Region IV-B83₱111,9950.94x national
Region XIII38₱107,8890.90x national
Region IX26₱107,1450.89x national
Region XI68₱97,9960.82x national
Region VIII35₱93,7700.78x national
Negros Island Region14₱85,1300.71x national
Region XII22₱78,0340.65x national
Cordillera Administrative Region212₱76,1990.64x national
Flood wall / dike / revetment, cost per linear meter: revetment (5 regions with 10+ projects)
Region V10₱242,2121.77x national
Region XI93₱143,3291.05x national
Region III12₱141,8791.04x national
Region XII25₱121,8870.89x national
Region IX14₱110,3160.81x national
Pumping station, cost per station: new construction (2 regions with 10+ projects)
Region III33₱92,459,7691.90x national
National Capital Region119₱38,367,6300.79x national
Road, cost per km: new paving / upgrading (16 regions with 10+ projects)
Cordillera Administrative Region103₱40,720,2261.51x national
Region XIII88₱30,023,4591.12x national
Region IX132₱29,879,8691.11x national
Region XII242₱29,664,8351.10x national
Region VIII65₱29,296,9871.09x national
Region IV-B234₱29,239,3831.09x national
Region IV-A36₱28,841,6451.07x national
Region I30₱25,211,3730.94x national
Region X83₱25,038,6500.93x national
Region III22₱21,895,0110.81x national
Region V151₱21,813,8050.81x national
Region XI48₱20,873,0500.78x national
Region VII123₱18,620,3360.69x national
Region VI70₱17,871,4820.66x national
Negros Island Region55₱16,375,0000.61x national
Region II86₱8,204,8530.31x national
Road, cost per km: preventive maintenance / overlay (17 regions with 10+ projects)
Region XI143₱45,475,0291.70x national
Region XII160₱42,809,2801.60x national
Region IV-B153₱35,911,3021.34x national
Region IV-A655₱34,112,1611.28x national
Region VII215₱31,589,7721.18x national
Region XIII59₱31,298,6681.17x national
National Capital Region177₱28,927,2021.08x national
Region X232₱28,925,5461.08x national
Region III352₱27,182,7581.02x national
Region V160₱26,528,9490.99x national
Region IX103₱25,925,8970.97x national
Region VIII297₱21,940,2000.82x national
Negros Island Region254₱21,643,4810.81x national
Region II118₱18,090,9180.68x national
Region VI221₱17,400,0180.65x national
Region I184₱14,991,8160.56x national
Cordillera Administrative Region75₱11,512,7820.43x national
Road, cost per km: rehabilitation / reconstruction (17 regions with 10+ projects)
National Capital Region75₱45,057,4711.58x national
Region V146₱36,963,1981.30x national
Cordillera Administrative Region58₱32,813,5801.15x national
Region IV-A150₱32,081,0351.13x national
Region VIII132₱31,739,5121.12x national
Region VII149₱30,817,2591.08x national
Negros Island Region172₱29,246,2311.03x national
Region XIII54₱29,116,2231.02x national
Region X105₱28,902,3811.02x national
Region I96₱27,685,7400.97x national
Region II97₱27,557,4660.97x national
Region IV-B142₱26,974,2960.95x national
Region III192₱26,970,5350.95x national
Region IX70₱26,798,0900.94x national
Region XII54₱25,733,1780.90x national
Region VI191₱21,096,9610.74x national
Region XI55₱20,840,0840.73x national
Road, cost per km: widening (16 regions with 10+ projects)
Region IV-A330₱43,784,3221.30x national
Region V215₱41,974,7721.25x national
Region VII130₱41,545,6951.23x national
Region XIII116₱36,431,4991.08x national
Region X383₱35,441,8961.05x national
Region XI118₱34,822,5761.03x national
Negros Island Region171₱33,465,1130.99x national
Region VIII337₱33,141,4840.98x national
Region IX116₱31,523,8180.94x national
Cordillera Administrative Region18₱30,870,3460.92x national
Region IV-B182₱30,769,3620.91x national
Region III98₱30,765,2520.91x national
Region I165₱30,590,7660.91x national
Region VI261₱30,382,9700.90x national
Region II189₱29,305,3220.87x national
Region XII225₱28,642,7420.85x national

Projects at 3x or more of their regional median

Regions with at least 20 comparable projects. Titles may omit scope that explains the cost; check the project page and source record.

Methodology and limits

  • Source. Contract cost, title, region and contractor come from DPWH project records (DPWH Infrastructure Projects portal / transparency data) as loaded on this site. No quantity is estimated or imputed.
  • Roads and flood walls. Length is the sum of station ranges written in the title, e.g. “K0028+000 - K0028+598” = 598 m or “Sta. 0+000 - Sta. 0+207” = 207 m. Projects without a station range, with reversed ranges, bridges, or implausible lengths (over 30 km road / 10 km wall) are skipped. A road range may cover only one lane or a section; the title does not say.
  • Classrooms. Count from phrases such as “2 STOREY 8 CLASSROOM”, “2STY4CL” or “FOUR (4) CLASSROOMS”, multiplied by “N UNITS” when stated. Repair, rehabilitation and completion contracts are skipped; buildings may include toilets, furniture or extra floors not reflected in the count.
  • Pumping stations. Only titles describing construction of a single pumping station; rehabilitation, upgrades and multi-station packages are skipped. Station capacity is not in the title, so sizes vary widely.
  • Comparisons. Projects are only compared within the same work type (e.g. overlays vs overlays). Regional medians need 10+ projects; the “3x” list needs 20+. Costs are nominal pesos, not adjusted for inflation or year.
  • Script: scripts/benchmarks/compute_unit_costs.py. 17,828 DPWH projects currently have a quantity we can parse with confidence; all others are left out rather than guessed.