Gov’t pushes infra projects

Even as the domestic economy grapples with external headwinds, the head of the Duterte administration’s economic team told foreign investors that there was no stopping the ambitious “Build, Build, Build” to roll out more big-ticket infrastructure that the government can privatize in the future.

During a recent meeting with top executives of UK-based Standard Chartered Bank on the sidelines of the multilateral lender World Bank’s annual meetings in Bali, Indonesia, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III noted the challenges due to the US-China trade war, higher interest rates because of the US Federal Reserve’s “aggressive” monetary policy normalization and “sharply rising” global oil prices.

But Dominguez told the bank executives that the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program was “doing very well.”

“We are building up our assets, which some future governments, when they need the money, which I’m sure they will, can opt to sell,” Dominguez explained.

Under “Build, Build, Build,” the government plans to roll out 75 “game-changing” projects, with about half targeted to be finished within President Duterte’s term, alongside spending a total of more than P8 trillion on hard and modern infrastructure until 2022 to usher in “the golden age of infrastructure.”

For instance, Dominguez noted that the Duterte administration was able to fast-track the completion of the soon-to-open New Bohol International Airport.

The airport in Panglao town started implementation in 2015 and was originally scheduled for completion in 2021, the finance chief said.

Even as it was only 5-percent completed when President Duterte assumed office in mid-2016, the administration was able to move up the completion date to 2018, hence its ceremonial opening before the end of the year, he added.