Toll roads, railways and other infrastructure projects generate jobs and the Philippines will need more of them to lift majority of the Filipinos out of poverty.
The Department of Transportation clearly sees the connection, vowing to complete all infrastructure projects worth hundreds of billions of pesos by the end of President Duterte’s term.
“We are going to complete all the projects, (if not all, many). I will be happier if all the projects will push through, not for me, not for you, not for them but for everybody,” Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said.
“This administration, through the strong leadership of President Duterte, is on target. Investments in construction grew by 10.1 percent in the first quarter of 2018. Public construction expanded by 25.1 percent,” Tugade said.
He said the increase in infrastructure spending was expected to create around one million direct and indirect jobs annually.
The Department of Budget and Management said spending for infrastructure and other capital outlays rose 41.6 percent to P352.7 billion in the first half of the year from P249.1 billion year-on-year.
“Build Build Build is Jobs Jobs Jobs. This is providing life to our nation. Unemployment has already decreased to 5.5 percent from 5.7 percent, year-on-year. We expect this figure to shrink further,” Tugade added.
DOTr’s big-ticket infrastructure projects include the P227-billion Mega Manila Subway, P105.31-billion PNR North Phase 1, P150-billion PNR Phase 2, P130-billion PNR South Commuter Rail, P151-billion PNR South Longhaul and the P31.50-billion Mindanao Railway from Tagum and Davao City to Digos.
About 468,000 jobs were generated in the construction sector based on a Labor Force Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority in April 2018.
“We are elated with the strong performance of the construction sector. In April 2018, total employment in the sector reached 4.012 million from 3.544 million during the same period in 2017. This is a 13.2-percent increase,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.
Employment in the construction sector stood at 3.381 million at the start of the Duterte administration in 2016.
Largest contributor
“Construction is the largest contributor to employment among the industry sub-sectors during the period and we believe the Build Build Build infrastructure program is the main driver of growth,” Bello added.
Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar said the “Build Build Build was gaining momentum at an unprecedented rate,” noting that more jobs were generated during the first two years of the Duterte administration compared to the previous five years.
“In the first quarter of 2018, the gross value added in donstruction is at 9.3 percent,” he said.
The DOTr also said it completed 129 commercial port projects under the Philippine Ports Authority, and four social/tourism ports under its Maritime Sector, in the last two years.
Tugade said better port facilities would strengthen tourism in the country and bolster the Philippines’ appeal as a cruise destination.
He said all these were done to fulfill the government’s promise of improving the lives of the public by providing them with facilities to enable them to have a comfortable and efficient travel and transportation.
Philippine Ports Authority general manager Jay Daniel Santiago said the government was pouring in billions in the next five years to improve and modernize ports in the country.
“We have been injecting so much investment in our ports,” he said.
The PPA reported that 68 projects amounting to P3.17 billion in 2016 were completed. These include port expansion projects worth P309 million in Puerto Princesa, Palawan; P272-million wharf extension in Lapaz, Iloilo City; and Phase III of the rehabilitation and improvement of the Tacloban City Port.
