A NEOPHYTE lawmaker has stressed the need to accelerate reforms to cut bureaucratic red tape and improve the absorptive capacity of national and local government agencies.
This is aimed at addressing the deficiencies that could hobble the Duterte administration’s record infrastructure spending over the next five years.
While the administration is on the right track in finally addressing the massive infrastructure backlog across the country, Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte stressed the need for the government to ensure that both national government agencies and local government units are equipped for the judicious and prompt use of their much bigger outlays for infrastructure, Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte said “partnership and close coordination between the national government agencies and LGUs in the planning and implementation of projects will remove bottlenecks and lead to better absorptive capacity.”
Villafuerte said: “Malacañang has dubbed the next five years as the ‘Golden Age of Infrastructure’ in the country, but we have to make sure this isn’t merely an empty promise.
“Programs might get stalled because of red tape and the poor absorptive capacity of our national agencies and LGUs that might be overwhelmed by the simultaneous implementation of infra projects, unless the government takes urgent steps to correct these nagging deficiencies in our system.”
Villafuerte cited a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the research and analysis division of the London-based The Economist Group, which warned that challenges in reforming flaws in disbursing agencies, such as “weak procurement capacity and arduous permitting procedures,” could lead to delays in the planned infra buildup of the Duterte administration.
Citing reports, Villafuerte said President Duterte’s ambitious infrastructure program aims to implement a whopping P8 trillion-worth of projects “simultaneously and not sequentially” with a completion target of four years.
Villafuerte noted that even Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno had admitted the biggest challenge facing the government was the “execution” of these projects so they could translate “into goods and services that benefit our people.”