Build, Build, Build’s ‘new normal’: 13 projects added, 8 removed

The Duterte administration’s infrastructure gurus have added 13 projects to support post-pandemic recovery to the ambitious “Build, Build, Build” pipeline while removing eight others that have yet to move beyond their feasibility study stages.

Vivencio Dizon, presidential adviser for flagship programs and projects, said on Thursday (Aug. 6) that of 100 projects on the BBB list, 92 were retained which would cost P1.4 trillion.

Dizon said these were shovel-ready projects, which he included 29 public-private partnerships (PPPs) to be financed by tycoons’ deep pockets.

Dizon earlier told the Inquirer that the government planned to renegotiate terms of big-ticket infrastructure to be undertaken by the private sector and possibly give them longer contracts to allow a return of investments in consideration of the economic “new normal” inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the other hand, Dizon said the eight projects worth a total of P370 billion stricken out of the “Build, Build, Build” list included these:

• Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge
• Dalton Pass East Alignment Alternative Road
• New Zamboanga International Airport
• New Dumaguete Airport
• Panay River Basin Integrated Development
• Kabulnan-2 Multipurpose Irrigation and Power
• Kanan Dam
• Guimaras-Negros portion of the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Bridge

Save for the Kanan Dam project which was PPP, the seven others were to be funded by official development assistance (ODA) from multilateral lenders and bilateral development partners.

Dizon said 13 projects were added to the flagship infrastructure program, including four in information and communications technology (ICT); five water projects; three transportation projects; and one health project.

These additional projects would bring the BBB list to 105 projects.

The lone health project recently included in BBB was the Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines, although Dizon said there remained some other Department of Health (DOH) projects pending approval.

In ICT, the four projects included:

• Land Transportation Office’s (LTO) Central Command Center
• Motor Vehicle Recognition and Enhancement System
• National Broadband Program
• ICT Capacity Development and Management Program

For water, the projects were:

• Water District Development Sector Projects of the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
• National Irrigation Sector Rehabilitation and Improvement Project;
• Balog-Balog Multipurpose Project Phase 2 in Tarlac
• Jalaur River Multipurpose Project Stage 2 in Iloilo
• Lower Agno River Irrigation System Improvement Project in Pangasinan

For transportation, the new projects included:

• Metro Manila Logistics Network – Pasig River and Manggahan Floodway Bridges
• Construction of J.P. Rizal-Lopez Jaena Bridge
• Construction of J.P. Rizal-St. Mary Bridge
• Construction of Marikina-Vista Real Bridge
• North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) Harbor Link Extension to Anda Circle
• General Santos City Airport

The planned bridges would all cross the Marikina River.

TSB