Quality of infra in PH lagged behind neighbors’ — World Bank

MANILA, Philippines — While the government has slightly jacked up the programmed spending for infrastructure to P785.5 billion this year, the World Bank noted that the quality of road, power and water infrastructure in the Philippines lagged behind those of its neighbors.

The Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) last July 28 approved via ad referendum a 2020 public infrastructure program equivalent to 4.2 percent of nominal gross domestic product (GDP), which was estimated at P18.9 billion by yearend.

The new program was higher than the P775.1 billion programmed by the DBCC in May, but lower than actual expenditures on infrastructure last year amounting to P1.05 trillion.

For 2021, P1.12 trillion or 5.4 percent of GDP will be set aside for the infrastructure program —  including disbursements from national government infrastructure, infrastructure subsidy and equity to state-run corporations, as well as transfers to local government units (LGUs) for their infrastructure projects, which the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said included payables from the current year’s budget and prior years’ obligations.

However, the updated 2021 infrastructure program was below the indicative amount of P1.18 trillion last May.

In a report, the Washington-based World Bank said that in the Philippines, “road-quality surveys show that the quality of road infrastructure is perceived as very poor.”

“Manila, in particular, is challenged by heavy congestion. Although surface conditions have improved, more than one in four roads has a poor surface condition, largely attributable to underinvestment and lack of maintenance, especially in rural areas,” according to the World Bank report titled “Infrastructure in Asia and the Pacific: Road Transport, Electricity, and Water and Sanitation Services in East Asia, South Asia and the Pacific Islands.”

The report was the World Bank’s first comprehensive stock-taking of infrastructure quality, supply levels, as well as services affordability in the region.

As for electricity, the World Bank said that “although access is widespread, and losses are low, energy consumption per capita is also very low” in the Philippines.

“This implies that generation capacity is inadequate to meet rapidly increasing demand,” the World Bank said, even as “access in rural areas increased significantly in 2016, due to the government’s strategic rural-electrification program.”

Citing 2009 quality data from 25 utilities in the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities (IBNET) database, the World Bank said that there was “reasonable coverage (38 percent of the urban population) across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.”

“Overall, however, the country has limited access to water and sanitation, compared to regional averages. Moreover, the quality of water supplied, and the levels of wastewater treatment are very poor,” the World Bank said.

EDV