Infra upgrade weighs on Phl emissions commitment – NEDA

The Philippines cannot strictly abide by international agreements on cutting down greenhouse gas emissions as the country is still burdened by the need to upgrade the quality of its infrastructure, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.

In his first State of the Nation Address Monday, President Duterte said while the Philippines would continue to address the ill-effects of global warming, efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change should not get in the way of industrialization.

Before his SONA, Duterte said he would not honor the historic Paris agreement which requires nations to significantly reduce carbon emissions.

The 150 signatory-countries also vowed to sustain efforts that would limit the rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Although not a major emitter, the Philippines committed to reduce carbon emission by 70 percent until 2030. The Senate has yet to ratify the agreement.

NEDA deputy director general for investment programming Rolando Tungpalan said the government must find a balance between fulfilling its commitment to pursue a low carbon development path and providing for the infrastructure and energy needs of its growing economy.

“We have to put in context that infrastructure is a binding constraint. So when we say a binding constraint, it means our capacity to grow and sus- tain our growth over a period of time hinges on the quality of infrastructure that we put in place. And infrastructure includes energy so if you look at that context, the role of infrastructure and energy, you have to have that leeway,” he said.

NEDA is preparing a new Philippine Development Plan for 2017 to 2022 in which it must lay down the infrastructure necessities to cope with the needs of the expanding economy.

“Those are voluntary commitments. A new plan is coming out because the current plan in only up to 2016. So from 2017 to 2022, we have to agree on what is the growth rate and what is the accompanying infrastructure. Even without the numbers, we have to be aggressive in infrastructure development including private sector investment in the energy sector,” he said.

As infrastructure building requires energy and energy generation produces emissions, Tungpalan said the government can look into the use of new technologies and strictly enforce environment regulations.

“With technology now, I’ve seen new coal-fired plants and they are clean. You need to have proper implementation of environmental laws. You cannot keep this country from progressing. We subscribe to a low carbon growth path but you have to balance the cost of adhering to that zealously as well as the need to provide room for growth,” he said.

Tungpalan said failure to address the infrastructure backlog would cause the country to miss out on the growth opportunity presented by the strengthening of the ASEAN region where it is one of the fastest-growing nations.

“After all, developed countries have had their time. We are going to catch up and we are on the cusp of the ASEAN growth region. If the world is slowing down, we are in a growth position to take advantage of the growth that we are experiencing. And that growth can be constrained by not providing sufficient infrastructure,” he said.

The Asian Development Bank ( ADB) estimates that between 2010 and 2020, the Philippines needs to invest $127 billion in infrastructure to stave off an infrastructure crisis that would be an offshoot of growing population and rising incomes.

The Duterte administration is determined to close the infrastructure gap by strengthening partnership with the private sector. It plans to complete by 2017 the procurement of around 17 stalled PPP projects collectively valued at $ 580 billion. It is also open to more unsolicited proposals under the public-private partnership (PPP) procurement scheme.

Economic managers expect the Philippine economy to grow six to seven percent this year and 6.5 to 7.5 percent in 2017.

The Philippine economy grew a strong 6.9 percent in the first quarter of 2016, driven by election-related spending.