Infra inevitable

“The government will have to infuse up to P1.5 trillion a year in infrastructure projects to catch up with our well-developed neighbors such as Malaysia and Thailand.

The inevitability of an infrastructure buildup to nudge the country into competing in a much integrated and, thus, the investment-competitive world has been the driving force behind the government since the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo first saw the bottled-up need.

Macapagal-Arroyo embarked on a “Strong Republic” program anchored on infrastructure, which was disrupted, however, as a result of underspending and vicious vindictive politics during the term of President Noynoy Aquino.

The rollout of massive government projects continued under President Rodrigo Duterte with the “Build, Build, Build” program that has been ramped up under the current administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s “Build, Better, More” program.

Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said the BBM thrust will tap public-private partnerships or PPP projects as a key source of capital. PPP was first popularized during the Macapagal-Arroyo administration during which build-operate-transfer contracts were the template, which reduced government spending for flagship projects.

Romualdez cited as an example of infrastructure that sped up economic integration through faster travel the Candaba Viaduct that was built in the 1970s. The 5-kilometer viaduct traverses the Candaba swamp and connects Bulacan and Pampanga.

It was recently expanded as the burgeoning economy meant the increased movement of goods, that in turn resulted in bottlenecks mainly of cargo trucks on the viaduct.

The key to development projects is the cooperation of localities since right-of-way issues are a frequent impediment, particularly in densely populated areas.

The House leader said that a growing population, coupled with an expanding economy, makes it “imperative that we invest in the modernization and expansion of our infrastructure.”

The government will have to infuse up to P1.5 trillion a year in infrastructure projects to catch up with our well-developed neighbors such as Malaysia and Thailand.

It is also necessary to keep the country in the race against Indonesia and Vietnam which are both spending heavily on infrastructure to build up their economies.

The Philippines being part of the ASEAN economic community and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership has to compete in a liberalized market in the region.

Last May, the House of Representatives approved on third reading House Bill 8078 seeking a 30-year National Infrastructure Program or NIP to align transportation, energy, water resources, information, and communications technology, agri-fisheries modernization, and food logistics and social infrastructure to first-world standards.

The NIP bill seeks to institutionalize the “Build, Better, More” program through the generation and scheduling of signature projects that would propel growth.

A fixed five percent at least of the gross domestic product will be allocated to infrastructure under the proposal but the spending will come from PPPs and cheap official development assistance loans.

To achieve efficiency and transparency, projects in the program may be procured through electronic online platforms. Implementing agencies may use automated management tools that can help track project implementation.

The proposed measure thus seeks to end the scourge of underspending where hundreds of billions of pesos in the budget were wasted or turned into the president’s discretionary funds.

The drop in infrastructure spending was necessary to fund the dreaded Disbursement Acceleration Program, from where slush money flowed to oust the late former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Credit belongs to : tribune.net.ph