November 4, 2016 — The Duterte administration is intent on ushering the nation into a “Golden Age of Infrastructure” as it plans to spend about P8 trillion for roads, bridges, and transportation systems in the next five years.

“Our battle cry is build, build, build,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said during a media briefing on the Duterte administration’s Infrastructure Plan yesterday.

(Click on the gallery above to see the presentation made during the press conference.)

The P8-trillion budget is more than double the infrastructure expenditure of past administrations, Andanar added.

To realize this, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Transportation (DOTr), and the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) have coordinated to build more bridges and roads, railways, urban mass transport, and airports and seaports.

In the pipeline are bridges and roads, which include the Santa Monica-Lawton-BGC Link Bridge, UP-Miriam-Ateneo Viaduct, NLEX-SLEX Connector Road, and the Manila-Clark Railway.

Outside the National Capital Region, the Iloilo-Guimaras-Negros-Cebu Link Bridge and the Davao City Bypass are in the works.

All these are seen to decrease travel time and ease the transport of goods and services.

The government also aims to relieve Metro Manila of traffic congestion and over-population and bring economic development to rural communities.

Construction of more railways such as the Mindanao Railway, urban mass transport like the Metro Manila Bus Rapid Train System, and regional airport and roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) ports development form part of the big-ticket infrastructure program.

A new terminal building at Clark International Airport and a cargo railway to connect Subic and Clark will be constructed as part of the plan to decongest the metropolis.

Andanar said the government is “working 24/7” to reach these goals in infrastructure.

http://mindanation.com/build-build-build-duterte-launches-massive-p8-trillion-infra-program/

IN THE TWO years since he assumed office and promised to usher in a “golden age of infrastructure”, President Rodrigo R. Duterte has put money where his mouth is. Boasting that, by his term’s end in 2022, multiple roads, bridges, ports, and airports will rise across the nation, his “Build, Build, Build” program now has a potential bill upwards of PhP8.4 trillion that will come from public funds, private monies, and loans.

By a Cabinet secretary’s account, Duterte is simply unstoppable when he wants to get something done. First christened “Dutertenomics,” the mammoth Build, Build, Build program currently has tens of thousands of civil-works contracts bidded out, apart from multiple multibillion-peso big infrastructure projects partly funded by official development assistance (ODA) or loans from China, Japan, and other bilateral partners.

This dwarfs the infrastructure frenzy under one of Duterte’s predecessors, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is said to have had an “edifice complex” so bad that roads and bridges were being built at a speed that would make it possible for her to inaugurate one or two in her visits to the provinces week on week.

As a result, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) during the Arroyo administration bidded out 27,535 civil-works contracts in eight years, from 2000 to 2008. But this has turned out to be just 60 percent of the Duterte administration’s total projects bidded out, which come to 44,000 in all, according to DPWH Secretary Mark A. Villar, in a mere 24 months, from July 2016 to July 2018.

If Villar’s number is correct, that total redounds to an average of 1,833 DPWH projects awarded monthly, or 60 projects daily. Apart from roads and bridges, DPWH is also building schools, flood-control systems, and water systems, while other agencies are constructing irrigation, power systems, as well as ports, airports, and other civil-works projects.

Like Arroyo – now the Speaker of the House — Duterte has proclaimed his massive infrastructure program as an anti-poverty antidote. He wants, he has said, to build infrastructure and bolster industries so he can create jobs and curb poverty by nearly half, or from 21.6 percent in 2015 to between 13 and 15 percent in 2022.

In addition, like Arroyo and all presidents before him, Duterte has promised that his projects and administration would be rid of corruption. “I assure you,” he had said at the launch of his socio-economic agenda in 2016, “this will be a clean government.”

http://pcij.org/stories/dpwh-under-duterte-corruption-politics-slippage-mar-many-projects/

President Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build Plan” is an ambitious undertaking, and indeed has a great potential to make the Philippines a stronger, more developed nation. Still, the government’s pursuit to achieve a “Golden Age of Infrastructure” can  also prove to be an exceptional burden to the economy and many Filipinos in the long run.

Yet despite this challenge, one question still remains: is it all worth it?

And our answer is: only time will tell.

https://www.carmudi.com.ph/journal/president-dutertes-build-build-build-plan-who-really-stands-to-gain-or-lose-from-it/

President Duterte sees the “Build, Build, Build Plan” as a means to usher in a “Golden Age of Infrastructure” for the Philippines.

This six-year infrastructure program under the “Dutertenomics” policy aims to make the country a “prosperous, predominantly middle-class society” by improving and developing  infrastructure programs for transportation (roads, bridges, airports, and seaports), flood management, water resources, energy, communications, sewerage & sanitation, and solid waste management.

https://www.carmudi.com.ph/journal/president-dutertes-build-build-build-plan-who-really-stands-to-gain-or-lose-from-it/

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to hold Build Build Build Job Fair 2018.

Secretary Mark Villar invites Filipino job hunters to join at the Build Build Build job fair slated last August 12 at the SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay City. The job fair started at 8:30 AM until 4:30 PM.

Numerous job opportunities await Filipino who’ll join in ushering of the so called Philippines Golden Age of Infrastructure.  More than 11,000 jobs are up for grabs ranging from positions for skilled workers to engineering professionals.  The top vacancies available are laborer, mason, steelman, and carpenter, among others.

https://philnewsph.com/2018/06/18/build-build-build-job-fair-2018/

According to a recent post by Mindanao Economic Boom, Mindanao Development Authority Chairperson Datu Abul Khayr Dangcal Alonto assured the materialization of Mindanao Railway Project and the transfer of Zamboanga International Airport in his statement published by Philippine Information Agency.

If realized, the said railway will cut traditional travel time via bus by almost half of its original duration. Below are estimated travel time to key locations with a train’s average speed of 100 km/h.

http://aboutcagayandeoro.com/mindanao-railway-project-soon-become-reality/

The Duterte administration recently unveiled its infrastructure plans until 2022 and the country’s first subway system is set to lead the way.

The Mega Manila Subway, dubbed as “the most ambitious project” of the Duterte administration by Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, was at the forefront of the government’s infrastructure plans unveiled during the “Dutertenomics” Forum held at the Conrad Hotel last Tuesday, April 18.

These plans include the construction of a connector road between NLEX and SLEX, a road and bridge to connect BGC and Ortigas, four bus rapid transit lines (Quezon City-Manila, EDSA, Cebu, and BGC-NAIA), common bus terminals, and improvement (or construction in the case of the New Bohol Airport in Panglao) of the country’s airports, among others.

Thirteen stops were proposed for the Mega Manila Subway: Mindanao Avenue, North Avenue, Quezon Avenue, East Avenue, Anonas, and Katipunan in Quezon City; Ortigas North and Ortigas South in Pasig City; Kalayaan Avenue in Makati City; Bonifacio Global City, Cayetano Boulevard, and Food Terminal Incorporated (FTI) in Taguig City; and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City.

Tugade said he wants the construction for the subway to start by the fourth quarter of 2020, though he hopes it can be initiated as early as 2019, with 2024 set as the completion date. Tugade is also hoping that both President Rodrigo Duterte and Japanese Prime

Minister Shinzo Abe will sign the agreement for its construction sometime in November this year.

Funding for the project will come from the government through official development assistance from Japan. The project is currently under development, with a feasibility study being done by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which should be completed by July 2017.

http://primer.com.ph/blog/2017/04/20/mega-manila-subway-leads-duterte-admins-golden-age-of-infrastructure/

Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar said the agency is ready to implement several strategic major infrastructure projects in Cebu as part of President Duterte’s mandate to decongest major thoroughfares and implement an integrated seamless transport system.

“Among the big ticket projects to be implemented include the highly anticipated 74 kilometers Metro Cebu Expressway Project, which will reduce travel from Naga City to Danao City from three (3) hours to one (1) hour and 25 minutes,” Villar said.

“We have already completed the feasibility study of the P50 Billion Metro Cebu Expressway Project. It will be implemented in three segments,” he added.

The P50 Billion Metro Cebu Expressway Project is part of President Rodrigo R. Duterte‘s infrastructure program, #BuildBuildBuild, which aims to increase the productive capacity of the economy and create jobs through the acceleration of massive infrastructure.

According to the International Monetary Fund, a sustained increase in public infrastructure spending to 5% of GDP would add a total of 5 to 6% to GDP after 15 years.

Also expected to decongest traffic congestion in the progressive City of Cebu is the planned construction of four (4) lanes Guadalupe-Lahug By-Pass Road with a total length of 1.61 kilometers.

“The project with an estimated cost of P500 Million will shorten travel time Barangay Guadalupe to Barangay Lahug by 50 percent from one (1) hour to only 30 minutes,” Villar said.

“In addition, feasibility study is now on-going for the construction of Mandaue City-Consolacion-Liloan Bypass Road owhich is expected to bring down travel time from Cebu City to the Municipality of Liloan by 50 percent,” Villar added.

http://www.dpwh.gov.ph/dpwh/news/11734

TO THE GOLDEN AGE OF INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE PHILIPPINES