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Friday, March 29, 2024

Government spending P56-billion monthly in ‘Build, Build, Build’ –Dominguez

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Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Wednesday the economy is expected to grow 7 percent or faster over the medium term as the government increases spending for the ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure program.

Members of the ‘Build, Build, Build’ team hold a news briefing at the site of the New Clark City, showcasing recent developments in the government’s infrastructure program.  Shown are (from left) Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, MTD Clark Inc. president Nicholas David,  MTD Clark Inc. chairman Isaac David, Bases Conversion Development Authority president Vince Dizon and Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade

Dominguez said government spending on infrastructure in the first five months of 2018 reached P281 billion, up 42 percent from the same period last year. He said the amount was on top of private sector construction and public sector projects financed through public-private partnerships.

Dominguez said that with P281 billion invested on infrastructure in the five-month period, the government was averaging close to P56 billion a month in spending on ‘Build, Build, Build’.

He said with 30 percent of this spending going to wages, about P17 billion was infused into the economy a month in the form of additional income and purchasing power for workers.

The infrastructure program also generated 100,000 new jobs so far, spurring economic activity in related sectors and other multiplier effects, he said.

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“Build, Build, Build will drastically alter the Philippine economic landscape. It will create over a million jobs per year. It will bring our logistics backbone up to par in a region that is growing very dynamically,” Dominguez said in a speech in Clark Freeport.

Dominguez said that combined with other reforms such as the long-due modernization of the tax system and improvement in the ease of doing business, the Duterte administration envisioned the infrastructure program to reduce poverty incidence by a third of the 2015 level of 21.6 percent to just 14 percent by 2022.

“This will be the absolute measure of success of our strategy of inclusive growth. This is the goal that has been set for us by President Duterte, and this is how we are implementing it,” said Dominguez.

“We fully aspire to be the fastest growing economy in the fastest growing region in the world. This will not be an easy task to accomplish. But we are ready to meet the challenges, driven by the optimism of our people, the confidence of our development partners, and the leadership of President Duterte,” he said.

The economy grew 6.8 percent in the first quarter, faster than 6.5 percent a year ago. 

Joining Dominguez at the event in Clark were Secretaries Ernesto Pernia of the National Economic and Development Authority, Mark Villar of Public Works, Arthur Tugade of Transportation and Vivencio Dizon of Bases Conversion and Development Authority.  With them are MTD Clark Inc. chairman Isaac David and MTD Clark Inc. president Nicholas David.

The ‘Build, Build, Build' team took the media on a tour of New Clark City to show them “the progress of the infrastructure program as it is actually unfolding on the ground.”

New Clark City, which spans Angeles City in Pampanga and the towns of Capas and Bamban in Tarlac, is among the 75 high-impact flagship projects of the Duterte administration under the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program.

Construction is set to start this year on three main structures inside the city”•the P1.78 billion Clark Green City Government Center, the P850-million Clark Commercial Center and the P3.33-billion Clark Mixed-Income Housing.

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