Six years not that long

When talking of building infrastructure or seeing the results of development programs, the six years of a presidential term is not that long. It is over too soon. Because every new administration wants to start from scratch, a president realizes too late he or she has little to show for the six years in power.

The one big attraction of Mr. Duterte is his statement during the campaign that he doesn’t mind borrowing good projects and ideas from the previous administrations. Sanay naman daw siyang kumopya nung estudyante siya.

Hopefully, his Cabinet members bear this in mind when they start working on projects left over from previous administrations. The one big fault of the Aquino watch is P-Noy’s reluctance to have anything to do with Arroyo projects even if there are already significant sunk costs or ongoing contracts.

Sure, for the obviously anomalous contracts, the new administration must do what it must do for good governance. But ordering new feasibility studies on top of dozens of feasibility studies on the same project would be a foolish waste of time, money and other public resources.

One of the first things the new regime must do is take an inventory of pending projects and note in what stages these projects are. Then, establish new timelines for decision making and implementation with firm delivery dates. Unless this is done, they will find out the bureaucracy is good in pretending to be busy even if they have no idea or intention to deliver anything soon.

Take the DOTC. The new Manila airport had been talked about and studied a lot for decades. JICA was asked last year by DOTC to prepare a new study, again. It is time to make decisions because:

• We need an airport to cover Manila and south of Manila to replace or supplement NAIA. Our main industrial zones are in Calabarzon. Clark is too far specially for those exporting or getting raw materials by air daily or just in time inventory systems.

There had been so many studies on where to locate the new Manila international airport. Sites in and along Laguna de Bay (Talim Island, Taguig shoreline, Bulacan) as well as Sangley and even Lipa have been mentioned and studied.

The first decision the Duterte administration should do within the next three months is where to locate this airport. Everything starts with this decision. General Aviation cannot be relocated to Sangley as planned if Sangley will be selected as the site of the new Manila International Airport.

• We also need to develop Clark to serve provinces north of Manila and incidentally, supplement NAIA while the new one is being developed. Clark needs a decent terminal to handle increased international traffic. Clark needs a second runway because the current second runway is designed for fighter jets and not in compliance with ICAO separation rules for commercial jets.

With Clark Green City, the Ayala township development in Porac and increased importance of the Subic port, the Clark airport will be busier before we realize it.

Clark will need a fast train to Metro Manila and the only ROW available is the PNR ROW that is now programmed for a slow commuter train from Caloocan to Malolos. Indeed, this proposal of Japan needs to be re-evaluated to fit Clark’s need for a fast train and we should do this re-evaluation and make a decision fast.

In the meantime, the new administration should proceed with the stalled public bidding for what a PPP Center press release called the “P74.56-billion ($1.65 billion) NAIA Development project seen to transform the Philippines’ main international gateway into a world-class modern airport facility. The winning bidder of the airport project will upgrade the existing NAIA terminals to increase capacity.

“The concessionaire will also handle the operations and maintenance covering both landside and airside aspects — except air traffic services — to increase operational efficiency and improve quality of services.”

The lesson in Cebu Mactan tells us private management of airports will serve the public interest.

There is also a pending public bidding for the operations and maintenance of a number of domestic airports (Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo, Bohol, Cagayan de Oro). Everything was ready for the public bidding and the potential bidders have done their computations. But DOTC held the bidding back.

USec. Timmy Limcaoco claims they are waiting for legal opinions from the Solicitor General and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel as if DOTC didn’t have enough lawyers.

On the train system, the earlier agreement was for the Tutuban to Bicol line to subsidize the commuter line, but this was changed to bid out the two as separate projects.

That effectively kills the commuter line. Worse, Abaya’s DOTC wants to run the operations as if government has what it takes to run a train system well. The MRT-3 experience proves otherwise. Decisions should be made on this rehab plan quickly so work can get going.

 The other urgent projects that need more attention are the two NLEX-SLEX connector roads. The two connector roads will greatly relieve congestion, taking as much as 50 percent of traffic load on EDSA and C5. The slow moving trucks will take the MPIC one which connects to the piers. The connector roads may help make the Clark airport temporarily a bearable alternative to NAIA.

Indeed, the Duterte administration should get a complete briefing from the PPP Center and ask for a list of already approved projects ready for bidding. I understand the PPP staff is already frustrated with the seeming lack of interest of implementing agencies in carrying out vetted projects.

What DOTC needs is one good project manager. I am confident Sec. Tugade will be decisive, based on the meetings I have had with him. Unlike Abaya and Mar Roxas, Tugade is a self-made man who grew up from poverty to become a success in the logistics business.

I noticed in our meetings, which included representatives from the business sector and some government agencies, that Tugade is anxious to fix problems quickly. He wants timelines of deliverables, something the current DOTC officials have ignored. Tugade, with his experience in the logistics industry, knows the necessity of having and meeting deadlines.

The infrastructure Cabinet members of Mr. Duterte should remember they do not have the luxury of time. People expect solutions but will understand if they can see something is being done.

I am happy to note that in the case of Mr. Tugade, he started working the day after his name was announced by Mr. Duterte as the new Transportation Secretary. I know he has been educating himself quite extensively over the last few weeks. But because he is a senior citizen, I only hope his health is up to the punishing physical challenge.

Tugade should brush off the lethargy of the bureaucracy he is inheriting from Jun Abaya. Not everyone will be happy with the decisions he will make but the important thing is that within the next three months, he has made most of the key decisions that are necessary.

We simply cannot debate forever where to put the new airport, how to build the new railways and how to decongest EDSA. President-elect Duterte should implement the projects the Aquino administration was too afraid to get started.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco.