A total of 1,313 region-specific infrastructure projects amounting to P157.44 billion will be rolling out in the next three years in five regions of the Philippines with the highest poverty rates, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
The projects are included in the Three-Year Rolling Infrastructure Plan (TRIP) 2018-2020, a multi-year program under NEDA that aims to strengthen the links between planning, programming, and budgeting, and help attain public infrastructure spending targets for the medium term.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said the infrastructure projects are “in line with the country’s National Spatial Strategy in the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022.”
“We want to set the country’s direction of future growth to one that strongly involves the regions and maximize this connectivity of sustainable urban and rural communities,” Pernia added.
Of the 4,895 projects amounting to P3.6 trillion included in TRIP 2018-2020, 4,498 are region-specific (P935.55 billion), 158 are inter-regional (P1,848.02 billion), and 239 are nationwide in scale (P824.47 billion).
The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the country’s poorest region with a 48.2% poverty rate among families in the 2015 Philippine Poverty Statistics, will have 955 projects amounting to P50.71 billion.
Also included among the poorest regions, Caraga (Region XIII) will have 66 infrastructure projects amounting to P28.81 billion, Eastern Visayas (Region VIII) will have 147 infrastructure projects amounting to P19.8 billion, Soccsksargen (Region XII) will have 28 projects amounting to P7.8 billion, and Northern Mindanao (Region X) will have 117 projects amounting to P50.32 billion.
“These numbers only include the region-specific projects. These areas are also expected to benefit from the inter-regional and nationwide infrastructure that will form efficient network of engines of economic growth all over the country,” Pernia said.
For the region-specific projects, 2,857 infrastructure projects amounting to P524.48 billion will be built in areas outside the National Capital Region (NCR), compared with 293 projects amounting to P180.37 billion to be built in NCR.
“This shows how serious this administration is in jumpstarting growth in the regions and in addressing spatial and socioeconomic inequalities by linking lagging regions with leading ones,” the Cabinet official said.
He also noted that this will help develop the regional and sub-regional centers, and decongest Metro Manila.
This long pipeline of infrastructure projects can also enhance job generation, help increase household consumption, stimulate business-related activities in the areas and, reduce poverty in the long run.
In terms of mode of funding, 3,334 will be locally funded projects, 70 will be financed through official development assistance, 33 will be supported by public-private partnerships, and 1,341 will be backed by other modes. For 117 projects, the mode of funding has yet to be determined.
Meanwhile, the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC)-Cabinet Committee and the NEDA Infrastructure Committee approved in a joint meeting last April 17 the updated list of 75 infrastructure flagship projects.
Recently included projects still up for approval by the ICC include the Mindoro-Batangas Super Bridge, Camarines-Catanduanes Friendship Bridge, Ipo Dam No. 3, Panay River Basin Integrated Development Project, Nationwide Fish Ports Project (Package III), Agus 3 Hydroelectric Plant—most of them candidates for China’s official development assistance.
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