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[av_heading heading=’DREAM BIG ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY MANNY VILLAR
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AMONG the major undertakings of any administration, it is infrastructure that probably presents the biggest challenges, for two reasons.
First, the Constitution limits the presidential term to six years. Second, infrastructure projects generally take a long time to implement – from planning to selection of contractors through lengthy bidding procedures to actual construction, which is often delayed because of lengthy negotiations for rights-of-way.
It cannot be denied that among the presidents that followed the martial law regime, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is the most committed and determined to put in place the infrastructure systems that the Philippines direly needs, to pave the way for investment inflows and sustain strong economic growth.
Nothing can be done about the constitutional limit on the presidential term, so the President and his economic team are adopting strategies and reforms to complete as many projects, particularly the most needed ones, within the six-year term.
For projects that are so big as to require more than six years, such as the country’s first subway system, the goal is to ensure financing and finish at least the initial phase, so the projects could be completed by succeeding administrations.
On the funding side, President Duterte – through his independent foreign policy – has been able to obtain commitments from China and Japan for billions of dollars in grants and loans to support the Philippines’ “Build Build Build” infrastructure program.
At the same time, the commitments from the two economic giants, as well as the sincerity and determination of the government to pursue the massive infrastructure program has kindled the interests of other countries and foreign investors to participate in local infrastructure projects.
With the six-year term of the President in mind, the Department of Public Works and Highways has adopted innovations and strategies to reduce project completion periods.
For instance, DPWH secretary Mark Villar, after finding out that some ongoing projects have construction periods of seven years or longer, revised deadlines for these projects and put a five-year maximum time for completion.
He formed a task force composed of lawyers from the department that will handle right-of-way issues to make sure these do not delay implementation of projects.
Maximizing technology, he added, such as the use of drones, keeps himself updated on the work progress on all projects, and to deter corruption.
In the past, public works projects are among the most politicized – even the smallest infrastructure project was accompanied by billboards screaming the pictures and names of politicians who claim credit for the projects.
Under the Duterte administration, roads and bridges that go nowhere are a thing of the past. The DPWH still entertains proposals from congressmen because they are supposed to know what their constituencies need, but these proposals are subject to study – projects that are accepted are included in the official master plan for infrastructure.
Actually, infrastructure projects had started to move in the final years of the previous administration. Instead of setting these projects aside and replacing them with new projects under the current administration, the DPWH under President Duterte hit the ground running.
Instead of implementing reorganization, only minimal changes were done, so the department was able to continue the implementation of the inherited projects.
Secretary Mark Villar’s rationale is that these are not projects of any person or leader; all of these are the projects of Filipinos, and should be completed as soon as possible, for their benefit. There are no old or new projects; if these are ready for implementation, there should be no delay.
That is why approval even of big-ticket projects is faster now. During a roundtable with reporters last week, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said the Duterte administration was sending a positive signal through recent reforms in streamlining the approvals and project preparation for flagship infrastructure projects.
The government is now working harder to eliminate bottlenecks in project approval and preparation, according to ADB officials and economists.
Under President Duterte’s recently issued Administrative Order 8, as many as 11 agencies were removed from the board of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). The board, chaired by the President, is the highest decision-making body for national infrastructure projects.
The Neda board is now composed of the President as chair, socioeconomic planning secretary as vice-chair, and as members the executive secretary, cabinet secretary, secretaries of budget, finance, public works and highways, trade and industry, transportation, chair of the Mindanao Development Authority, and deputy governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
The connector road for the North and South Expressways, which went through three administrations, is finally moving.
Under the Duterte administration, we don’t expect to see the disagreements that caused the delay of the project.
The President and his economic managers are moving as a team, and are working toward the same goal: Finish the job!
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This piece first came out in Business Mirror on Oct. 30, 2017 under the column “The Entrepreneur.” For comments/feedback e-mail to: mbv.secretariat@gmail.com or visitwww.mannyvillar.com.ph./PN
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