Build, Build, Build an ambitious infra plan

The Duterte administration’s ambitious infrastructure program kicked off last year, and once fully completed, it should modernize the country’s dilapidated roads, railways, ports and airports over the medium term.

Promising to usher in a “golden age of infrastructure,” the Duterte government unveiled its 18.4-trillion Build, Build, Build program, the most ambitious infrastructure plan that the Philippine government has undertaken so far.

Under the program that runs within the Duterte administration’s term, the government will raise the annual spending on public works to seven percent of the economy, as measured by the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), from current levels which is less than three percent.

The government plans to gradually increase the public infrastructure budget to 11.2 trillion this year; 11.4 trillion next year; 11.5 trillion in 2020; 11.7 trillion the following year; and 11.9 trillion in 2022 to support the envisioned infrastructure boom.

The Duterte administration is aiming to build 75 small- and big-ticket infrastructure projects within the controversial chief executive’s term, which ends 2022.

The 75 identified flagship projects include six airports, nine railways, three rapid-bus transits, 32 roads and bridges, as well as four seaports that the government hopes would help cut down the costs of production, improve rural incomes, and encourage countryside investments.

Likewise, the government plans to invest in four energy facilities, 10 water resource projects including irrigation systems; five flood control facilities; and three redevelopment programs.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s economic team, headed by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, said that majority of the government’s 75 flagship infrastructure projects are now in the construction or pre-construction stage since the program’s launching in 2016.

Dominguez now promises that the “Build, Build, Build” program would shift to high gear starting this year with the rollout of the first set of big-ticket infrastructure projects and the implementation of the tax reform law that will help support these projects.

About a fourth of the funding needed for the government’s 18.44-trillion infrastructure modernization program will come from the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) revenues, while the rest will be funded by official development assistance (ODA).

Among the “Build, Build, Build” projects that have moved forward