Gov’t sets several PPP projects in motion

The government is set to fire off infrastructure projects early in 2012, with Malacañang having earmarked P13.4 billion for facilities related to tourism, which contributes about 6 percent of domestic output.

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said the amount would mostly cover airport and seaport projects, as well as access roads.

Abad said that P8.1 billion of the budget for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will be used to build 1,071 kilometers of access roads to various tourism destinations across the country.

This represents “a whopping 351.4-percent increase from the corresponding P1.8 billion allocation in the 2011 budget,” he added.

An additional P3.1 billion, also with the DPWH, will go to the construction of access roads to airports and roll-on/roll-off ports, which also lead to various tourist destinations.

Ports that will particularly benefit from the fund are those in Boracay (Aklan), Palawan, Bohol, and Cebu, as well as other sites in Bicol, Mindanao, and Northern and Central Luzon.

Further, the Department of Transportation and Communications is embarking on its own airport projects such as the P1.2-billion New Bohol International Airport development project in Panglao Island, and the P1-billion Puerto Princesa Airport development project.

“Departments and agencies have already started conducting pre-construction preparatory work, in time for the entry of fiscal year 2012,” Abad said. “With these, agencies will be able to start executing their programs and projects—especially infrastructure—within January.”

In total, P255.2 billion of the P1.816-trillion budget for 2012 has been allocated for infrastructure and other capital outlays.

According to the National Statistical Coordination Board, the tourism sector’s share in Philippine gross domestic product averaged at 5.8 percent from 2000 to 2010.

In 2010 alone, direct gross value added from tourism reached P518.5 billion—13 percent higher than the P459 billion reported in 2009.

“With the competitive rates offered by various airlines and shipping lines, as well as holiday economics, the economic importance of domestic tourism has grown substantially in recent years,” the NSCB said in a report.

“Its economic contribution is substantially more important than that of inbound tourism, as domestic tourism expenditures are about six times as much as inbound tourism expenditure,” it added.