Execution “will be the decisive element” in the success of the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program, economic experts said at a recent forum organized by Stratbase Albert del Rosario Institute (ADRi)
“The impetus for a massive infrastructure buildup is the country’s poor state of infrastructure, as evidenced by our poor performance in several global rankings,” said Dindo Manhit, president of Stratbase ADRi. “The Philippines is one of the lowest in terms of logistics performance, and the most problematic factor for doing business in the country is inadequate infrastructure supply.”
Economist Dr. Alvin Ang presented his special study, “Financing Inclusive Infrastructure,” where he identified serious challenges that the government must overcome to deliver on the President’s infrastructure agenda.
The study points out that the issue on BBB implementation is not about which of the public-private partnership mode or official development assistant is better. It is “ultimately an issue of whether the Philippines can address the myriad of execution issues.”
“The Metro Rail Transit [Line] 7 is a prime example of this, as the contract was awarded and signed in 2008 and yet construction only took off eight years later in 2016,” Ang said. In particular, Ang cited perennial problems beyond the approval and bidding stages, from the securing of right-of-way, procurement, budget bottlenecks and other issues of a “poor knowledge management nature.”
“This is not so much different with the issues related to doing business in the country, which appears as the perennial reason foreign investors are not coming in. We need to improve governance at different levels whether business or infrastructure-related. It will be critical that the first half of 2018 will reflect a much-improved infrastructure spending and faster implementation of programs, as people expect movement and not just press releases. This same source of political capital might be eroded sooner when people’s expectations are not met,” Ang said.