President Rodrigo Duterte’s P8.4-trillion infrastructure program under the “Build, Build, Build” mantra over the next five years is unprecedented and ambitious. It can be done but funding the massive program will depend on Congress, which has the task of identifying and passing the revenue measures to bring the infrastructure projects to fruition.
The chairman of the House committee on appropriations said Congress would ensure funding support for the infrastructure modernization program, touted as the core of the government’s new economic master plan called “Dutertenomics.”
Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, the panel chairman, sounded upbeat on the chances of the legislative body in drawing up the necessary revenues to bankroll the construction of the projects, initially costing at least P1.13 trillion in 2018, P1.18 trillion in 2019 and P1.29 trillion in 2020.
Nograles recognizes the real impact of the infrastructure program on national economic development. He says the logic of Dutertenomics is simple and practical. If we modernize our infrastructure, he says, we will modernize the economy down to the farthest municipality. And everything else will follow.
Infrastructure projects like rail networks, toll roads, airports and everything that will speed up the delivery of farm produce to the market and make public commute faster and more efficient could bring about a balanced economic development, especially in long-neglected regions in Mindanao and the Visayas.
New railways, bridges, expressways and subways will instantly generate employment in the initial stage, spur local and foreign investments and ultimately make a significant dent on the fight against poverty. Nograles added a “balanced economic development will help deny the enemies of government reasons for their rebellion.”
The government has several options to fund the infrastructure program. It can borrow from local and foreign sources to partially finance the projects or let the private sector do the job to preserve the fiscal integrity. But Congress must also do its part of identifying revenues and passing a national budget supportive of the infrastructure projects. Foreign and local investors will not subscribe to the plan if the government itself is not dead set on having the wherewithal to finance the projects.