... as Duterte’s political will seen to fasttrack BBB

MANILA, Philippines — The Duterte administration is confident it would complete its ambitious infrastructure development program within its term, banking on the President’s political will to do so.

Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar said the government’s Build Build Build program is in full swing, with ongoing construction and improvements already being felt by Filipinos nationwide.

“I don’t know the exact percentage (level of completion), but most of the projects are in advanced stages already. We are halfway through,” he said.

“Rest assured because of President Duterte’s political will, we will complete all the projects under the Build Build Build,” Villar said.

The Build Build Build program involves the implementation of 75 flagship infrastructure projects worth a total of P9 trillion until 2022. Through these projects, the administration seeks to bring the Philippines into a so-called “Golden Age of Infrastructure.”

“It’s all systems go for the Build Build Build program. The purpose of the Build Build Build is to improve the lives of our countrymen,” he said.

Aside from projects to be undertaken and completed within its term, the current administration is also looking to help the succeeding administration by already identifying potential big-ticket and highly impactful infrastructure projects.

“We will also create a pipeline that will last us even beyond the term of President Duterte,” Villar said.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) chief said it intends to tap an Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility from the Asian Development Bank to finance feasibility studies for new infrastructure projects.

“That’s $100 million to do feasibility studies that are worth tens of billions of pesos,” he said.

“This will give us a pipeline of ready to implement projects. So at least, even after the term of this administration, we will still have a lot of projects. Feasibility study is the most difficult part in any big ticket project because it takes one year and it costs millions of dollars. So once you have a full-blown feasibility study, implementation will be much easier,” Villar said.

Officials of the DPWH led by Villar also met recently with representatives of development partner World Bank to discuss new financial and technical assistance to ensure the resilience of critical infrastructure and government buildings in earthquake high-hazard zones.

The DPWH has been undertaking inspection and assessment of the structural conditions of public facilities and infrastructures in Metro Manila.

Realizing the need for more planning and funding of the seismic strengthening and upgrading activities, the agency said it would particularly need the World Bank’s technical assistance and expertise in ways such as package preparation of priority investments to support risk reduction in schools, hospital, government buildings; improvement of emergency preparedness and response capacity; strengthening the enforcement of building regulations and standards; and technical and organizational capacity building for the long-term implementation of an earthquake resilience program.