Better, smarter infrastructure needed to boost economy – Robredo

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo yesterday vowed to implement a “better and smarter” infrastructure program that will prioritize projects that will have high impact on Filipinos.

“The point is not about building more, but about building better, making sure that quality is assured, corruption is eliminated and the infrastructure we build actually contributes towards making the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable better,” Robredo said during the presidentiables’ forum at the Philippine Business Conference and Expo yesterday.

“Our government will prioritize feasible and strategic projects that provide high impact for the Filipino people. This means shifting away from the failed car-centric public budgeting,” she added.

Her priority, she said, would be a nationwide active transport infrastructure focused on creating roads for people instead of cars.

These include the implementation of bus rapid transits in EDSA and Cebu, establishing more railways, expansion and improvement of protected bike lane networks, setting up bike racks, creating safe pathways and better bus stops.

Robredo also stressed the need to improve spending, noting that disbursement of the Department of Public Works and Highways never exceeded 60 percent from 2017 to 2020, while spending of the Department of Transportation did not breach the 45-percent mark.

“To ensure integrity in the allocation of infrastructure contracts: we will map the points where corruption enters the procurement process, and we will plug those holes. This means being more discerning on which projects are actually needed, and which ones are being used as cash cows by politicians. We will also enforce evidence-based cost estimates, and regular audit checks on the procurement process. We will proactively disclose relevant data,” she added.

To avoid bureaucratic delays, the Vice President vowed to streamline the contracting process in accordance with the recommendations from the Asian Development Bank.

Evaluation criteria will be simplified and project requirements will be closely specified, she added, noting that even the registration process for submission of bids will have to be revamped.

“We will also capacitate the procurement arm of government units: there should be no more delays because of technical mistakes,” she said.

‘Smarter’ program

Robredo stressed the need to shift from the “largely urban, transport-oriented and costly ‘build-build-build’ emphasis of the current administration,” saying traditional infrastructure is not sufficient to make the economy resilient.

“We will build smarter – putting greater emphasis on building and expanding infrastructure to support our current and emerging communities and industries,” she said.

“For example, providing greater access and infrastructure support to digitization will benefit not only the information technology and business process outsourcing sector, but other industries as well,” she added.

She also reiterated her plan to support the agriculture sector, including investing in equipment and infrastructure such as farm-to-market roads, cold storage and post-harvest facilities.