CEBU CITY — Cebu stands to benefit from at least three big-ticket infrastructure projects under the Duterte administration’s ‘Build Build Build’ program in step with its goal of boosting this province’s status as a major growth driver of the national economy.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the strong support of the Philippines’ friends in the region in the form of official development assistance (ODA) comprising grants and soft loans, which “is the best it has even been” on the Duterte watch, has allowed the government to pursue “hybrid” public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects faster and at lower costs.
In Cebu, the construction of the New Cebu International Container Port, which is expected to be completed by 2020, is being supported by Korean ODA, Dominguez said.
Two other big-ticket projects in Cebu, which are up for submission to the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC), are the “monumental” 24.5-kilometer Cebu-to-Bohol Link Bridge and the 5.5-kilometer Cebu-Negros Link Bridge, he added.
Dominguez said the government will likewise push for new roads and a rapid bus transit system to dramatically reduce congestion in this city.
“These infrastructure investments are being made with the expectation that Cebu will continue playing a strong role as one of the reliable growth drivers of the national economy,” said Dominguez in a speech read for him by Finance Undersecretary Bayani Agabin during the general membership meeting of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry held at the Marco Polo Hotel here.
Dominguez said that besides the generous ODA provided by the country’s allies in the region, the government can also count on the fiscal space created by the Philippines’ investment-grade ratings and robust revenue flows from the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) to support massive investments in infrastructure.
He said that following the passage last December of CTRP’s first package—the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN)—the government has seen significant improvements in its revenue flows even with the lower personal income tax (PIT) rates that now benefit salaried employees.
The second CTRP package that aims to reduce corporate income taxes (CIT) while reforming the investment incentives system is expected to be passed by the Congress this year.
Aside from the CTRP, Dominguez said another program “that will drive our exemplary economic growth in the immediate term” and make it more inclusive is the “Build Build Build” program comprising not only the three multibillion-peso projects for Cebu but also the 72 other flagship projects that will develop growth corridors in other parts of the country and sharpen the economy’s competitiveness.
“Complemented by an extensive road building program undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), this infrastructure program will bring all areas of the archipelago into the growth mainstream,” Dominguez said.
With infrastructure investments having the highest multiplier effects on the economy, the “Build, Build, Build” program will provide the stimulus to expand the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 7 percent or better, which will, in turn, enable the government to reduce poverty incidence to only 14 percent by 2022, he said.
“Twenty-three of the flagship infrastructure projects have passed the approvals process and are ready for execution. We expect the rest of the projects to clear the approvals process this year, and we aspire to complete the majority of these projects before President Duterte’s term ends in 2022,” he said.
“I trust that the members of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry will sustain the entrepreneurship that has brought so much development to this area. We have, as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) put it, entered the Golden Age of Growth,” Dominguez said.
For the entire Visayas, Dominguez earlier named three airport improvement projects under the “Build, Build, Build” program–the construction of additional facilities and other necessary improvements for the Iloilo International Airport, the New Bohol Airport, and the Bacolod-Silay International Airport.
Dominguez underscored the need to address the income disparities across the country’s regions, pointing out that poverty rates in Western, Central and Eastern Visayas are all above the national average of 21.6 percent.
Moreover, in 2016, per capita income at current prices in Central Visayas stood at P127,757, while that in Western and Eastern Visayas stood far behind at only P76,459 and P67,638, respectively, compared to the national average of P140,259.
In terms of average regional share in the national GDP from 2010-2016, Central Visayas’ share was 6.3 percent compared with only 4.0 percent for Western Visayas and only 2.3 percent for Eastern Visayas, Dominguez has noted.
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