Saying the country’s mobility infrastructure is lagging by “decades” behind its Southeast Asian neighbors, Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito underscored the need to hasten the modernization of the country’s transport system.
“My estimate is that we’re about thirty, thirty-five years behind in terms of infrastructure development and transportation modernization compared to other countries,” Ejercito said.
The senator, who currently serves as vice chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services, explained that the country’s current investments in infrastructure development and transportation modernization are still far from the ideal.
For several decades, he said the government have not really invested much on transport the way our ASEAN neighbors did.
“We are only investing about 2 percent of the gross domestic product. It’s supposed to be 5 percent for infrastructure development,” Ejercito said.
Improving the country’s transportation systems especially its railways, he said, will boost ongoing efforts to revive the economy after being battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With transportation, with railway systems, more than airports, movement of people, movement of goods will be easier. That will attract, of course, foreign investments. That will make doing business easy and more convenient,” he said.
“Transportation modernization and infrastructure development will cost a lot but I think the returns to the economy will be enormous,” he added.
Ejercito earlier joined President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., officials from the Department of Transportation, and representatives from the Japan International Cooperation Agency in launching the tunnel boring machine for the Metro Manila Subway System project.
“With the launching of the subway’s tunnel boring machine, which will be used for excavating along the project’s route from Valenzuela to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, we are now one step closer in making the country’s first ever subway system a reality,” he said in a Facebook post.
“With the poor state of our country’s transportation system, railway is the only way,” he added.