CONNECTIVITY

Noting poor connectivity among the islands, the Duterte administration kicked off the “Build Build Build” program, which includes 70 infrastructure projects nationwide. Only 12 of these projects are directed towards Mindanao — 10 of which are under project development while two are already being implemented.

Mr. Lopez said the DTI and the Board of Investments (BoI) are working together with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the Roads Leveraging Linkages for Industry and Trade (ROLL IT) program to provide better connectivity in the region, particularly establish a more efficient supply chain linking larger enterprises with the MSMEs in far-flung regions.

“The goal of this program is to prioritize and implement road access infrastructure that leads to various industries and economic zones. Through ROLL IT, we are proposing P12.3 billion-worth of road infrastructure across the country under the proposed 2018 budget,” he added.

Trade Undersecretary for Competitiveness and Ease of Doing Business Group Ruth B. Castelo said the infrastructure projects in Mindanao already serve as the beacon for investors to flock the region.

“If we do not have adequate logistics, we cannot provide for business. It’s going to make their business faster otherwise without infrastructure development, it will be very hard for the investors to come and they will be turned off with all that traffic,” she added.

Ms. Castelo, who previously headed the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines, said the infrastructure projects will also give a change to link small contractors to the supply chain of larger firms.

“In Mindanao, not only in Mindanao actually, but with the roll out of the projects, the big construction companies with the financial capability cannot of course cannot complete the projects on their own. We have a lot of small and medium contractors, as a matter of fact, there are more of them than big contractors,” she said.

“So, in terms of construction, of course the bigger companies will be able to give opportunities to our smaller contractors for them to develop, in terms of their expertise, their technology and manpower.”

Last April, a roll- on, roll- off route was launched, connecting Davao, General Santos, and Bitung in Sulawesi, Indonesia, the first of many projects aimed to improve connectivity in the Brunei Darussalam- Indonesia- MalaysiaPhilippines- East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP- EAGA).

“Mindanao is the closest to the other ASEAN countries. We can expect a boom in Mindanao in the next five years — not only in terms of construction and infrastructure but also in other industries that we’re developing,” Ms. Castelo said. —