By Jinky Jorgio
Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said the Philippines will be a completely different country from today as far as infrastructure is concerned.
The Department of Public Works and Highways is expected to finish the P800-B projects when Duterete finishes his term by 2022.
Villar said under the Build Build Build program, Filipinos can feel the impact of these projects by next year or half-way into the current administration’s term.
Villar added that the first two years are invested in planning, doing feasibility study, and detailed engineering.
According to Villar, the administration has put together a pipeline of P800 billion worth of high quality projects that passed the economic managers’ standards that would ensure that the country will have many quality infrastructure projects.
So far, Villar noted, the DPWH has implemented 44,000 infrastructure projects including 1,908 kilometers of roads widened and 3,945 km of roads built.
DPWH has also widened a total of 500 bridges spanning 23,929 meters, replaced 204 bridges spanning 8,305 meters, built 127 new bridges spanning 6,260 meters, rehabilitated 939 bridges spanning approximately 40,000 meters, and strengthened 642 bridges spanning 29,000 meters.
For the next few months, Villar said projects that would be completed and come online are the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10, the Laguna Lake Highway, and the first section of the Cavite-Laguna expressway.
Meanwhile, the SLEX TR4 going to Quezon and bridges across Pasig river would start next year.
The Duterte administration has made infrastructure among its top priorities, with public spending on infrastructure projects targeted to reach from P8 to P9 trillion from 2017-2022.
Some 4,000 engineers will be hired by DPWH to ensure the success of this ambitious infrastructure programs. Villar said the Department of Budget and Management has approved to hire these engineers.