With only two months before President Duterte bows out of office, the government claims to have achieved its goal of ushering in the so-called Golden Age of Infrastructure, albeit completing only a tenth of its 119 infrastructure flagship projects (IFPs), or a measly 1.38 percent of the total cost of its project pipeline under the Build, Build, Build (BBB) program.
In a news briefing on Wednesday, BBB Chief Implementer Emil K. Sadain said the government “succeeded” in bringing the Philippines to the Golden Age of Infrastructure, citing the high government spending on infrastructure projects versus the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
“Yes,” Sadain replied, when asked if the government believes it had attained the Golden Age of Infrastructure. “Coming up with a huge package of infrastructure projects is not an ordinary task. If you compare that with previous administrations, it entails a huge effort both technical, financial, operations where this government, particularly the infrastructure and financial clusters, the economic development partners really play a major role.”
National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) OIC Undersecretary Roderick M. Planta explained that the ratio of public spending versus the local output is the government’s “headline metrics” in determining if it achieved its goal.
“The headline metric is the public expenditure as a percentage of GDP, and we’re consistently hitting at the minimum 5 percent of GDP; and this is at least twice what was spent or as compared to previous decades’ infrastructure development,” he said.
The BBB Program lists 119 IFPs with a total cost of P5.08 trillion.
Of the total, only 12 IFPs with a combined project cost of P70.65 billion have been completed so far —seven in 2020 and five in 2021. The three largest projects by cost in this list are the P21.97-billion Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 Rehabilitation, the P18-billion New Clark City Phase 1, and the P14.97-billion Clark International Airport Expansion.
Sadain said another seven projects—including the Metro Manila Logistics Network, the Unified Grand Central Station, and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 2 East Extension—are up for completion by June 2022, when President Duterte steps down.
Towards the end of the year, he added, another 12 should be finished. These include big-ticket projects such as the MRT Line 7, the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3, the Southeast Metro Manila Expressway and the C-5 Southlink Expressway.
In all, the projects lined up for completion this year are worth roughly P263.93 billion.
“Infrastructure spending to GDP… goes beyond the normal standard. The program is geared towards infrastructure development, which in the past many administrations has never [achieved] this kind of momentum,” Sadain said.
ADB, Jica
Development partners Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) were generally happy with the result of the flagship infrastructure program.
For one, ADB Country Director Kelly Bird said by sustaining increased spending on infrastructure, the Philippines is able to “add at least one percentage point to its GDP.”
“To sum it up, it’s been hugely successful to be able to get public spending above 5 percent more or less consistently. It’s double the ratio 18 years ago and that has led to very transformative projects that are very important. For example, the railway projects, the extension of road networks and bridges, and these are lifting up long term economic growth and creating jobs and are also important for economic recovery,” he said.
For his part, newly appointed Jica Philippines Chief Representative Sakamoto Takema said he is “enthusiastic” in campaigning to Tokyo the continued partnership between the Philippines and Japan.
He explained that promoting the BBB program—57 percent of which are funded through official development assistance (ODA) packages from the likes of Jica—through government-to-government partnerships will attract private sector players to invest in more infrastructure projects.
“I’m very positive for the Philippine BBB Policy and we are very happy to support that,” Takema said.
The balance of 88 projects, Sadain noted, will be up for implementation by the next administration. The pipeline involves projects that are under different stages of implementation, including construction, detailed engineering and design, securing of funding, and being reviewed by the Neda.
“The next administration should sustain the momentum if we want to have a holistic benefit or so in the attainment,” Sadain said.
The Philippines will hold its presidential elections on May 9, and most of the presidential candidates have expressed an intent to build on the BBB program with their own iterations—one focusing on social infrastructure, another planning to build more digital network infrastructure, and another on mass housing.
Whoever wins the elections, Sadain said hopes the new administration appreciates the value of continuing the BBB Program.
“The Golden Age of Infrastructure does not stop with this administration, it goes beyond the succeeding administrations—if we want to ensure there will be a closure in the infrastructure gap comparatively with neighboring countries,” he said.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes