Be prepared for road inconveniences

Bring a lot of patience on your next road trip.

The government has appealed to the public to brace for inconveniences amid the planned 24/7 construction of roads and other major infrastructure projects aimed at improving the country’s transportation system.

Socio-economic planning secretary Ernesto Pernia disclosed that the Philippines is poised to become a “world-class country” with a modern infrastructure network but said the public must share in the burden of sacrifices.

“Ang change na mangyayari muna would be some inconvenience, some passion, but then it’s usually passion before resurrection,” the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general said in a Palace press briefing.

“Before the country can really rise up and be a world-class country, there’ll be some inconvenience because you know when there’s construction going on, road widening project for example or railway project, talagang ano maaabala ‘yung mga tao na mag-commute,” Pernia added. (The commuters will be greatly affected.)

The government is targeting to complete several major infrastructure projects, including the Manila-Clark railway, Santa Monica-Lawton-BGC link bridge, and Metro Manila Bus Rapid Train System, in the next three to five years.

The multi-billion peso projects not only aim at decongesting Metro Manila but also provide safe fast and convenient transportation of people and goods across the country.

Pernia has asked the assistance of the media in disseminating the appeal for collective sacrifice as the construction of mega projects will roll out soon. “Talagang meron, kailangang kaunting sacrifice and dapat mapaintindi ninyo sa pagpahayag ninyo sa media na ganon,” he said. (There is a need for some sacrifice and we ask you to help us make the public understand why this needs to be done.)

Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar said the infrastructure projects will have 24/7 construction operations to hasten their completion within the President’s term.

“The Duterte administration will be a Golden Age for Infrastructure,” Villar said in the same press conference at the Palace. “The President ordered us to work 24/7 and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” he added.

He said the country has been lagging behind Asian neighbors in terms of infrastructure development since there was “less of a focus” during the past administrations.

“The infrastructure deficit is so huge that we really have to double time, triple time to even approach or be at par with the infrastructure level of our neighbors in Asia,” he said.

Villar said the government is set to spend 5.4 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in infrastructure, the highest in the last 47 years and unprecedented in past administrations.

“At our highest, a maximum of 3.2 percent was pegged for infrastructure spending. This administration would like to raise the bar and address the deficit. It is the only way we could solve both traffic and flooding,” Villar said.

Citing a study conducted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Villar said that a sustained increase in public infrastructure spending to five percent of GDP would add a total of five to six percent to GDP after 15 years.

“Development has always been faster than our road and transportation networks. We’d like to catch up – and hopefully preempt it in the next six years,” he said.

According to the DPWH, the 2015 IMF report found that the Philippines consistently had lower public investment than other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), averaging only 2.5 percent in 2000 to 2014.

The same study indicated that public capital stock is also one of the lowest among ASEAN countries which is at about 35 percent of GDP in 2013. Regional Average is pegged at 72 percent of GDP.

“China and India have been spending at least eight percent of their GDP in infrastructure. We’d like to catch up. Underspending would not be a problem of this administration,” Villar noted.

PRIORITY PROJECTS

The five priority infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration include the Sta. Monica – Lawton – BGC Link Road Project, a 1.15-kilometer bridge, roadway and viaduct structure, which will connect Lawton Avenue in Makati City to Sta. Monica, Fairlane, and Brixton in Pasig City and Bonifacio Global City;

The UP – Miriam – Ateneo Viaduct, a 1,820-meter four-lane permanent viaduct, which will reduce travel time on Katipunan Avenue and CP Garcia by 80 percent;

The NLEX-SLEX Connector Project, an eight-kilometer four-lane expressway from C3 Road in Caloocan City to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in Sta. Mesa, Manila, which is expected to reduce travel time between SLEX-NLEX from two hours to 30 minutes;

The Iloilo-Guimaras-Negros-Cebu Link Bridge, an interisland bridge project which will link the Visayan Islands of Panay, Guimaras, Negros and Cebu; and

The Davao City Bypass Construction project, a 44.6-kilometer tunnel and roadway structure, which would reduce travel time from Digos in Davao del Sur to Panabo in Davao del Norte by 55 minutes.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by by Genalyn D. Kabiling and Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos

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