{"id":237371,"date":"2019-11-13T21:03:48","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T02:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=237371"},"modified":"2019-11-13T21:04:31","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T02:04:31","slug":"completion-of-38-flagship-projects-targeted-in-2022-bcda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/11\/13\/completion-of-38-flagship-projects-targeted-in-2022-bcda\/","title":{"rendered":"Completion of 38 flagship projects targeted in 2022: BCDA"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: Bases Conversion and Development Authority President and Chief Executive Officer Vivencio Dizon (Photo: Cherie Joyce V. Flores\/PIA 3)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Around 38 of the 100 flagship infrastructure projects are targeted to be completed by the end of President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s term in 2022, the head of Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the list of 100 [infrastructure projects], this is our estimation, give or take, this is what we believed we can achieve: 38 out of the 100, roughly 40 percent,\u201d BCDA president and CEO Vivencio Dizon said in a weekly Palace economic briefing.<\/p>\n

Dizon, who concurrently serves as Presidential Adviser for Flagship Programs and Projects, said 22 out of 100 key infrastructure projects were \u201cpartially operational or substantially completed,\u201d while the remaining 40 percent would be completed \u201cbeyond 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the 100 big-ticket infrastructure projects, 35 are underway, 32 will commence construction in the next six to eight months, 21 are in the advanced stages of government approval, and the remaining 12 are in advanced stages of feasibility study, Dizon said.<\/p>\n

Dizon said roughly PHP4.3 trillion, or half of the PHP9 trillion that will be earmarked for the infrastructure program, will be spent for the implementation of the flagship projects.<\/p>\n

Last Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon claimed the Duterte administration\u2019s ambitious \u201cBuild, Build, Build\u201d program is a \u201cdismal failure.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the press conference, Dizon debunked the senator\u2019s claim, emphasizing the current administration has so far completed several infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

Among the completed projects are North Luzon Expressway Harbor Link Segment 10, Davao del Norte\u2019s Governor Miranda Bridge, Laguna Lake Highway, Isabela\u2019s Pigalo Bridge, Tarlac\u2013Pangasinan\u2013La Union Expressway-Pozorrubio, Bohol-Panglao International Airport, Cagayan de Oro Passenger Terminal, Communications Navigations System\/Air Traffic Management, and New Clark City Phase 1A, Dizon noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of activity in construction, and in particular, a lot of activity in public sector construction, meaning, in government construction or government projects,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I just want to emphasize the point: Is \u2018Build, Build, Build\u2019 a failure? Absolutely not. And the number speaks for themselves. Construction is up. Public spending on infrastructure is up. And this has led to a faster economic growth,\u201d Dizon added.<\/p>\n

Numbers don\u2019t lie<\/strong><\/p>\n

Contrary to Drilon\u2019s allegation that only nine of the \u201cBuild, Build, Build\u201d projects have started construction, Dizon said it was the previous Aquino government which showed \u201cdismal\u201d performance in boosting the infrastructure sector.<\/p>\n

Dizon noted that from 2016 to 2018, the Duterte administration has already spent nearly PHP1 trillion, compared to PHP380 billion spent by its predecessor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state of infrastructure when the President took over was dismal. I mean, we easily forget,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the President launched \u2018Build, Build, Build,\u2019 through the economic team way back in late 2016, the plan to spend more on infrastructure has been happening. And as they say, numbers do not lie,\u201d Dizon added.<\/p>\n

Spend more, disburse faster<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite its accomplishments in improving the infrastructure sector in the country, the government is not yet satisfied with its performance, as it is convinced it can \u201cdo more,\u201d Dizon admitted.<\/p>\n

Dizon said Duterte has already directed his economic team to \u201crevisit\u201d the roster of initial flagship projects, in an effort to hasten the implementation of the \u201cBuild, Build, Build\u201d program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanna be able to spend more, we wanna be able to disburse faster, we wanna be able to spend faster. While we\u2019ve already achieved a lot, we\u2019re not contented, we\u2019re not satisfied. We want to do even more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we wanted to do was look at the list, revisit it. Why? Because it\u2019s the halfway term of the President and we want to be able to do more and we want to be able to fast-track and even speed up the infrastructure program in the second half of the term of the President,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u2018Impossible\u2019 to finish 100 projects in 6 years<\/strong><\/p>\n

To clarify issues hounding the key infrastructure projects being pushed by the current administration, Dizon clarified that there was no promise to finish the completion of all the 100 key infrastructure projects under Duterte\u2019s watch.<\/p>\n

Dizon said it was \u201cimpossible\u201d to finish all the infrastructure projects within six years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to rationalize because you know, infrastructure projects are not easy to do. They require a lot of planning. They require long and very tedious feasibility studies, detailed planning. And it takes time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Build, Build, build\u2019 never promised that we would complete all these infrastructure projects in five or six years — that\u2019s impossible.\u00a0Imposible iyon<\/em>\u00a0(That\u2019s impossible). Nobody promised that. But what we promised is number one, we will start,\u201d Dizon added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Around 38 of the 100 flagship infrastructure projects are targeted to be completed by the end of President Rodrigo …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":237372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237371"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237374,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237371\/revisions\/237374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}