Right of way (ROW) issues continue to hound the government’s public-private partnership (PPP) program but settlement of such problems could lead to the projects’ completion even under the incumbent regime, Malacañang said on Monday.
There are currently 224 PPP projects awaiting resolution of right-of-way problems, Communications Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro told reporters in a briefing.
Some of the big-ticket projects affected by
ROW issues are the renovation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the Laguindingan International Airport.
The Metro Rail Transit Line 7 has also been delayed because of ROW issues.
Data from the PPP Center showed 176 projects were in the pipeline with an estimated cost of P2.6 trillion as of March 14, 2025.
Castro did not specify additional projects affected by ROW issues, other than saying that some of them are transportation PPPs.
If the ROW issues are resolved, there is a bigger chance for the projects to be completed during the term of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., she said.
“Ang talaga pong medyo idinadaing ng ating administrasyon ay kung paano mapapabilis ang problema sa pagkuha po ng right-of-way (Among the issues raised by the administration is how we could expedite the process of securing the needed right-of-way),” she said.
“So, kapag po ito ay walang naging problema, tuluy-tuloy lang din po ang proyekto, at tuluy-tuloy nating matatapos ang mga ito (So, when problems such as that are out of the way, then the projects would proceed smoothly and we would be able to complete them without any further delay),” she added.
The Marcos administration is doing all it can to complete all the projects it had set out to do and expect some of them to be completed in 2025 and 2026, she added.
During a meeting with President Marcos on March 20, the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) recommended the creation of a right-of-way office under the Office of the President. The office will oversee long-standing ROW issues that have affected and delayed government projects.
President Marcos agreed there is a need to have a dedicated team focused on addressing ROW issues since this is a “major cause of delay for government infrastructure projects,” the advisory council said.
“The ROW Office. Certainly I think that we have to do it. We have to do something as this is something that always comes up, and the main reason why we are always delayed and we have added cost,” the President said as quoted by PSAC in a separate statement.
The proposed office will work with relevant government agencies to resolve right-of-way conflicts and assign dedicated lawyers to each priority sector. These sectors will include transportation, energy, telecommunications and water.
Funding for ROW acquisition would be sourced from a portion of the Motor Vehicle Users Charge (MVUC) for land purchases.
The advisory council also wants the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center to set ROW budget planning in line with national projects. This is supposed to secure funding upfront to eliminate dependency on post-approved budget allocations.
The PSAC said the President wants to review the proposed Right of Way bill now pending before the Senate.
President Marcos also wants an update regarding the Interim Rental Subsidy that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has put in place. Marcos wants to know if it can be implemented in other places and projects.
Families affected by ROW, especially the informal settlers, would get P7,000 a month for the next 18 months under the Interim Rental Subsidy so that they can be relocated as soon as possible and the affected project can proceed.
Government housing agencies and local government units would help relocate affected families by preparing housing projects within the 18-month period.
The Interim Rental Subsidy was adopted by the DOTr for the Malolos-Clark railway project where 2,500 informal settler families in Calumpit in Bulacan, and Angeles and San Fernando in Pampanga were expected to be affected by ROW problems.
