Villar eyes completion of P800-B projects under Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will be a completely different country from what it is today as far as infrastructure is concerned when President Duterte finishes his term by 2022, as some P800 billion worth of high-quality projects are expected to be completed.

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said the Build Build Build program is on track, and Filipinos can expect to feel its impact even more starting next year – halfway into the current administration’s term.

“The first two years we invested an amount of time in planning, doing feasibility study, detailed engineering. We’re finishing and we’re starting projects (this year) and in the next year, we’ll feel even more the Build Build Build program,” Villar said.

“We can expect that before the end of term of the President, the Philippines will be a completely different country in terms of infrastructure because of what this administration has done,” he said.

According to Villar, the administration has put together a pipeline of P800 billion worth of high quality projects that passed the economic managers’ standards and would ensure that the Philippines will have many quality infrastructure projects.

“We are targeting to finish these projects before the end of the term of our president,” he said.

Villar said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has so far implemented 44,000 infrastructure projects, including 1,908 kilometers (km) of roads widened and 3,945 km of roads built.

The agency has also widened a total of 500 bridges spanning 23,929 meters, replaced 204 bridges spanning 8,305 meters, built 127 new bridges spanning 6,260 meters, rehabilitated 939 bridges spanning approximately 40,000 meters, and strengthened 642 bridges spanning 29,000 meters.

For the remainder of the year, Villar said projects that would be completed and come online are the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10, the Laguna Lake Highway, and the first section of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway .

Villar said construction of projects like the SLEX TR4 going to Quezon and bridges across Pasig river, meanwhile, would start next year.

The Duterte administration has made infrastructure among its top priorities, with public spending on infrastructure projects targeted to reach from P8- to P9-trillion from ‎2017-2022.

To further support the success of implementing the ambitious infrastructure program, Villar said the DPWH has secured the approval of the Department of Budget and Management to hire as many as 4,000 engineers.

“Almost 4,000 engineers will be joining the ranks of DPWH to further strengthen the capability of this department which is the engineering arm of the government,” he said.