Revival of cancelled infrastructure projects seen in 2022 budget

MANILA, Philippines — The national budget for next year is expected to include infrastructure projects cancelled last year due to the shift in government spending priority to pandemic response programs, an administration congressman said yesterday.

Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte cited President Duterte’s renewed push in his final State of the Nation Address (SONA) for an accelerated “Build, Build, Build” program in the homestretch of his term.

He said the President’s pronouncement is expected to lead to revival of flagship infrastructure projects, especially those outside Metro Manila.

Villafuerte cited two projects in his province – Camarines Sur Expressway Project and the Pasacao-Balatan Tourism Coastal Highway – that were deleted in the 2021 national budget during deliberations by Congress last year.

He lamented how the P1.25-billion funds for these two flagship projects “vanished” from public works appropriations in the 2021 national budget –even if both were already approved by the top-level National Economic and Development Authority-Investment Coordination Committee.

He appealed to economic managers to heed the President’s SONA directive by increasing national funds for these CamSur projects or including them on the list of projects for Official Development Assistance (ODA) financing.

“We are hoping that President Duterte’s SONA order for his economic managers to fast-track the implementation of ‘Build, Build, Build’ projects due for completion before his term ends in June 2022 would lead to the implementation of these projects to decongest traffic in major arteries across Bicol and cut travel time between the region’s provinces,” Villafuerte said.

“They could augment or even increase GAA funds to bankroll these CamSur projects or include them on the list of ODA-financed ventures,” he added.

He stressed that the completion of these major road networks, which would generate a lot of jobs and accelerate growth in CamSur and the rest of Bicol, has become urgent after the President directed agencies to go “full speed” on flagship projects, “especially those that would disperse economic activity” outside Metro Manila.