Government prioritizes completion of transport, water projects

MANILA, Philippines — The government will prioritize the completion of transport and water projects before the end of President Duterte’s term.

“Clearly, our priorities now are the transport and mobility projects as well as those with respect to water supply because these are really the pressing issues and pressing concerns moving forward,” said Vince Dizon, presidential adviser for flagship programs and projects  during the “Philippines: Pathway to Asia in a Post-Pandemic World” virtual briefing.

Among the projects to be prioritized are railways which include the Mindanao Railway phase 1, regional airports such as the Clark International Airport as well as roads and bridges in the Visayas and Mindanao and water supply projects in the National Capital Region (NCR).

“For water, because of the problems we continue to face and felt in the past years, the water shortages in NCR and other metropolitan cities is a major concern. That’s why we are fast-tracking these water supply projects especially for NCR to make the water supply sustainable in the coming years,” Dizon said.

Earlier this year, the government revised and expanded the list of the flagship infrastructure projects to cover 104 projects amounting to P4.13 trillion.

Dizon said the government’s goal is not just to complete as many projects as it can, but to also have a robust pipeline of projects.

“We want the next administration to have a robust pipeline of projects which it can continue in order to ensure continuity not only in the next administration but also future administrations,” he said.

He said the government would announce within the year what projects could be started, as well as what could be completed.