Government is firming up a list of infrastructure projects that will be rolled out until 2022 following a review of its commitment to raise its infrastructure spending to 5 percent of gross development product (GDP).
Jonathan Uy, officer-in-charge for investment programming of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said the government has around 100 projects in the list that includes the Davao-Samal bridge and the Camarines Sur high-speed highway.
“We are moving forward to presenting (the list) to a joint infra(structure) and investment coordination committee,” said Uy, noting that the list is subject to “further scrutiny by the economic managers.”
The list is made more significant by the government’s thrust to consider private sector participation in the project rollout under the public private partnership , earlier shunned by the current administration citing the slow project rollout experienced under the previous administration.
Uy said the government remains committed to its goal of spending as much as P4.7 trillion in infrastructure between 2017 and 2022, or equal to 5 percent of GDP.
“That’s the amount… of expenditures we hope to meet but the point here is that the estimates from the NEDA is based on total project cost which is over time. Even as we approve the IFPs (infrastructure flagship program), it will still be up to our agencies to ensure that the target disbursements are in the budget proposal and what is very important in this plan period is that the administration has taken very big steps in preparing projects…preparation and ensuring implementability,” he said.