Q1 gov’t infrastructure spending jumps 25%

Progress on foreign-funded big-ticket projects increased the amount spent on public infrastructure in the first quarter by more than 25 percent to P195.2 billion, from P156.1 billion a year ago, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said on Thursday.

In a report, the DBM attributed the increase mainly to road projects rolled out by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The surge in infrastructure expenditures also came on the back of “direct payments made to suppliers by foreign creditors for foreign-assisted projects such as the Metro Manila Subway project of the Department of Transportation and the Davao City Bypass construction project of the DPWH,” the DBM said.

“Although the growth in infrastructure and other capital outlays may be partly due to base effects, the increase in infrastructure disbursements for the first quarter of this year of P39.1 billion was enough to completely offset the P22.1-billion reduction recorded in the first quarter of last year. It also recovered from the negative growth recorded in the preceding two quarters of 33 percent in the third quarter and 32.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020,” the DBM added.

To recall, 75 percent of the economy ground to a halt—including implementation of infrastructure projects—when the stringent enhanced community quarantine was imposed by the government in March last year in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The DBM noted that in January to March, “public construction posted a 26.2-percent growth from 0.7-percent contraction for the same period last year, and bouncing back from the negative growth in the preceding two quarters at minus 27.1 percent and minus 17.7 percent in the third and fourth quarters of last year, respectively,” citing the Philippine Statistics Authority’s first-quarter gross domestic product report.

“This trend can be a good sign that the construction sector is already bouncing back from the effects of the community restrictions in place in the previous year as the economy is gradually reopened and the implementation of projects gained steam,” the DBM said.

During the month of March alone, the amount spent by the national government on infrastructure climbed by 41.1 percent to P87.8 billion from P62.2 billion a year ago. March disbursements also jumped by 56.4 percent from February’s P56.1 billion.

“This was largely propelled by the payment for completed and partially completed infrastructure projects of the DPWH nationwide such as construction, repair and rehabilitation of access, bypass, and diversion roads, bridges, and flood mitigation structures and drainage systems,” the DBM said.

In a webinar organized by the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) of the Philippines also on Thursday, Asian Development Bank (ADB) country director for the Philippines Kelly Bird said infrastructure development was no longer a dream but was “really happening” through the Duterte administration’s ambitious “Build, Build, Build” program.

Bird said the about $15 billion worth of mostly transport infrastructure projects included in the ADB’s country operations business plan (COBP) for 2019 to 2023 had been in various stages of implementation and approval of the National Economic and Development Authority’s Investment Coordination Committee (Neda-ICC).

Among the ADB-financed infrastructure projects were the Edsa Greenways, which Bird said they wanted to expand beyond the four current Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) stations; MRT-4; Malolos-Clark Railway; South Commuter Railway; Bataan-Cavite Bridge; Laguna Lake Expressway; Angat Dam rehabilitation; and “iconic” bridges crossing the Pasig and Marikina Rivers, among others.

For the part of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), its chief representative in the Philippines Eigo Azukizawa noted that the Japanese government’s aid arm was currently financing five railway projects: North-South Commuter Railway; North-South Commuter Railways north and south extensions; capacity enhancement of existing mass transit systems in Metro Manila; rehabilitation of MRT-3; and the Metro Manila Subway project.