Faster implementation of flagship projects outside metro seen
CAMARINES Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte has welcomed President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte’s fresh push in his final State of the Nation Address (SONA) for an accelerated “Build, Build, Build” program in the homestretch of his term, hoping this would lead to the faster implementation or revival especially of flagship projects outside Metro Manila.
Villafuerte said that Camarines Sur folk, for instance, have expressed the hope that the President’s SONA order to his economic managers to speed up the completion of flagship projects would clear the way to the implementation of at least two “Build, Build, Build” expressways whose funding, though included in the House-approved National Expenditure Program (NEP), were surprisingly deleted from the then-proposed 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA) that was subsequently submitted by the bicameral Congress for Malacañang’s approval.
The intended funds for these two flagship projects had “vanished” from public works appropriations under Republic Act (RA) No. 11518 or the 2021 GAA—even if both were already approved by the top-level National Economic and Development Authority-Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC)—are the Camarines Sur Expressway Project and the Pasacao-Balatan Tourism Coastal Highway.
The infrastructure funds for Camarines Sur that were taken off the 2021 GAA actually total P1.15 billion, if one were to include a third major road project in CamSur—the CamSur-Albay Diversion Road—whose outlay had similarly disappeared from the 2021 national budget.
Villafuerte appealed to our economic managers to heed the President’s SONA directive for them to accelerate infrastructure development by either augmenting or even increasing national budget funds for these CamSur projects or including them on the list of projects for Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding.
“We are hoping that President Duterte’s SONA order for his economic managers to fast-track the implementation of ‘Build, Build, Build’ projects due for completion before his term ends in June 2022 would lead to the implementation of these projects to decongest traffic in major arteries across Bicol and cut travel time between the region’s provinces,” Villafuerte said. “They could augment or even increase GAA funds to bankroll these Camarines Sur projects or include them on the list of ODA-financed ventures.”
He stressed that the implementation of these major road networks, which would generate a lot of jobs and supercharge growth in Camarines Sur and the rest of Bicol, has acquired urgency because in his SONA directive, “the President directed the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and NEDA to go “full speed” on flagship projects, “especially those that would disperse economic activity” outside Metro Manila.
In his last SONA, the President said: “And to sustain our momentum in infrastructure development, I have directed the DPWH, DOTr, NEDA, DOF and DBM to be on full speed to ensure that our flagship projects will be completed within my term, …. especially those that would help disperse economic activity outside the densely populated Metro Manila.”
In his SONA, among the “Build, Build, Build” projects that the President mentioned was a coastal road in Sorsogon. “The Sorsogon City Coastal By-Pass Road is targeted for completion by the end of 2021,” said the President.
“We are happy for Sorsogon folk who are likely ecstatic over the implementation of Sorsogon City’s coastal by-pass road,” Villafuerte said. “We are appealing to the President’s economic managers to make CamSur folk delighted too by restoring the funding for the flagship projects in CamSur that were already approved by the NEDA-ICC, in keeping with the President’s order for them to fast-track ‘Build, Build, Build’ projects, especially those outside the national capital.”
“Our people are earnestly looking forward to these projects’ completion and are expecting them to be finished by 2022, within this administration,” Villafuerte said.
