ZAMBOANGA CITY—After decades of neglect, Mindanao is now in the “front and center” of the government’s infrastructure buildup under the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program, with several big-ticket projects to be either rolled out or completed this year to link the island’s outlying communities to the urban mainstream, according to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.
In the Zamboanga Peninsula alone, Dominguez said the government has allocated P23 billion this year for road construction and improvement projects.
Dominguez said here that funding from the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, the first package under the Duterte administration’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP), will help support this unprecedented infrastructure buildup for Mindanao and the rest of the country, as well as bankroll the government’s increased spending on social services.
“For many years, the people of Mindanao complained of neglect by Imperial Manila…The many decades of neglect will end now. This island of great promise will be in the front and center of the massive infrastructure program being rolled out by the Duterte administration,” said Dominguez at the Zamboanga City Hall grounds during the 81st Dia de la Ciudad de Zamboanga celebration.
This celebration marks the day Zamboanga became a chartered city on Feb. 26, 1937. Zamboanga City is one of the Philippines’ oldest chartered cities.
Dominguez, who was born here and traces his family’s roots to this city, declared during the celebration that the big-ticket infrastructure projects being rolled out in Mindanao by the government will “bring the entire island to the mainstream of national progress.”
He pointed out that President Duterte, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez all hail from Mindanao, while the current composition of the Cabinet “have a lot of working experience in the region.”
“So today is the time for Mindanao,” Dominguez said.
He said such unprecedented public investments for Mindanao will fast-track development in the South as infrastructure has the “best multiplier effect” on the economy.
With infrastructure spending reaching P8.4 trillion over the next five years, Dominguez said gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate will expand to 7 percent or better and poverty incidence will fall to only 14 percent by 2022.
“‘Build, Build, Build’ will help stimulate economic activity in all provinces, without exception,” Dominguez said.
He cited as heroes the citizens who pay their taxes “promptly and in full” for making possible “an economic renaissance for our country.”
“Thanks to the support of our taxpayers, we are now ready to implement some of the strategic infrastructure projects that will benefit Mindanao’s economy. These projects will link the outlying communities to the mainstream of national wealth creation,” Dominguez said.
In the Zamboanga Peninsula alone, Dominguez said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has a total of 754 road projects in the pipeline amounting to P23 billion for 2018.
Of these projects, 102 are road construction and improvement projects for Zamboanga City worth a total of P1.16 billion, which include the 36-kilometer By-pass Road Project that is targeted to be completed this year.
Once completed, the road will serve as an alternative route for business from the neighboring cities of Dipolog and Pagadian plus municipalities in the Peninsula transporting goods to the Zamboanga Freeport Zone in Labuan, Zamboanga City. The by-pass road will reduce the travel time from one hour to 30 minutes from east to west of Zamboanga City and vice versa.
Dominguez told local officials present at the gathering to keep him informed on the progress of this project.
As for the flagship infra projects for Mindanao, Dominguez cited at least four projects designed to jumpstart economic development in the island. These are the:
1) P5.4 billion Malitubog-Maridagao Irrigation Project Phase 2 in North Cotabato and Maguindanao, which will irrigate almost 10,000 hectares of land in 56 conflict-affected areas. It is targeted for completion this year;
2) P98 billion Mindanao Logistics Infrastructure Network, which involves the construction or improvement of 2,500 kilometers of roads across Northern Mindanao, Davao, SOCCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato, Cotabato City, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City) and CARAGA regions to link farms to markets. The project has been on-going since 2015 and is targeted for completion in 2019;
3) P21 billion Improving Growth Corridors in Mindanao Road Sector Project, which involves the construction and improvement of a 276-kilometer network of roads covering Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay provinces. The project will commence this year and is expected to be completed by 2020;
4) The Mindanao Railway Project, which he said “will soon become a reality.”
Dominguez said the Department of Finance (DOF) will also support the proposal to transfer the current airport in Zamboanga City to a new, more viable location.
On top of spending big on infrastructure, the government has also mobilized all its agencies to rebuild the devastated city of Marawi, with the Bangon Marawi Comprehensive Recovery and Rehabilitation Plan now in its final stages of formulation, Dominguez said.
The role of the DOF in this massive effort is to help fund the rehabilitation and reconstruction effort by issuing soon “Marawi Reconstruction Bonds,” he said.
“We want to assure all the people of Mindanao that the Department of Finance is one hundred percent behind the rehabilitation of Marawi,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez said he has designated DOF Assistant Secretary Paola Alvarez as the DOF’s representative to help carry out the Bangon Marawi plan.
“Through this, we expect to rebuild the city better than the one devastated by terrorists,” Dominguez said.
He added that “while we are busy financing and launching new infrastructure, let me assure you we have not forgotten communities ruined by war and calamity.”
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