Government must spend more on infrastructure, says Angara

The government should step up its pump priming efforts by spending more on infrastructure projects to help cushion the negative impact of the global financial crisis, Sen. Edgardo Angara said yesterday.

The lawmaker noted that the government has not been spending enough for infrastructure projects as it earlier promised.

“Public infrastructure spending has slowed down. We have to look into that, especially in the context of a looming economic slowdown brought about by the global financial turbulence,” said Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies.

Citing data from the National Economic Development Authority, Angara said budget allocations for major infrastructure projects during the first half of 2008 have not been fully utilized.

He said that only P629 million out of the total P4.6 billion allocated for railway projects have been spent during the first six months of the year.

For seaport and airport projects, Angara said only P310 million out of P4.7 billion was disbursed during the period.

Furthermore, he noted that out of P13.8 billion allocated for foreign-assisted projects, the government has spent only P1 billion.

On waterworks projects, he said that a miserable 20 percent or P965 million out of the allocated P609 billion has been spent.

“These projects are mostly vital infrastructure projects which could help us mitigate the impact of an economic slowdown. These projects could boost jobs, agriculture production and tourism,” Angara said.

He also said that economic growth and efforts to attain global competitiveness have been affected by the government’s failure to spend on much needed infrastructure projects.

“Employment rate might be slowing down because of the poor public infrastructure accomplishments of government,” he said.

The lawmaker also suggested sustaining various financial reforms in the country. Some of these reforms are already in place such as the measure creating the Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA), he said.

The measure creating the Credit Information System Act (CISA), meanwhile, is due for signing by President Arroyo before the end of the month, Angara added.

He filed recently a bill, also part of continued financial reforms, which seeks to double the maximum deposit insurance coverage in the country from P250,000 to P500,000.