Malacañang vows to push infrastructure plan forward

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang has assured the public that President Duterte’s infrastructure program will be felt in 2020 and beyond – a reflection of his commitment to implement programs and projects that will improve the lives of Filipinos for years to come.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles also reported that several key infrastructure improvements in 2019 will have a positive impact on efforts to meet the primary objective of the 2017-2022 Philippine Development Plan (PDP): “a stable, prosperous, and peaceful life for all.”

“We end 2019 with substantial gains in our efforts to improve not just our highways, but our information superhighways,” he said.

With the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) leading the way, Nograles noted that the government constructed and rehabilitated 9,845 kilometers of roads, 2,709 bridges, 4,536 flood mitigation structures and 120,895 classrooms.

“This improved road infrastructure will allow for the faster and more efficient movement of people and goods around different parts of the country, lowering the costs of transportation and, consequently, the costs of commodities in the market,” he added.

According to Nograles, the government also recognizes the importance of improving the flow of information around the country, hence the work put in by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to install free wi-fi hotspots in public areas.

“In 2019, the DICT installed 3,084 live WiFi sites that have connected an estimated five million users in Metro Manila and 77 other provinces. This is a key development, as studies show that improved access to the internet provides opportunities for economic growth,” Nograles said.

“For example, in a country like ours where 99.5 percent of all businesses are MSMEs (micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises), the internet can drastically reduce transaction costs and address the limitations of distance, allowing them to expand their markets,” he added. 

Data showed that in developing countries, MSMEs that have access to the internet become 11 percent more productive, and that expanding internet access to the levels found in developed countries could improve the productivity of MSMEs in developing nations by as much as 25 percent.

“We are already experiencing some of the effects of Duterte Governance: reduced poverty, higher wages, and low unemployment rates. But our job is not finished yet, and we expect even more positive metrics as more and more of the government’s infra projects are completed,” Nograles said.