Report says most PH roads still unpaved

MANILA—More than 93 percent of barangay roads nationwide and nearly 69 percent and 66 percent, respectively, of provincial and national roads remain unpaved.

Despite this, the latest Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) has noted a slight improvement in the quality of Philippine roads.

On a scale of 1 to 7—with 1 being extremely underdeveloped and 7 extensive and efficient by global standard—the country scored a 3.4 for its roads in the 2012-13 period, a 0.3 increase over the 3.1 in 2011-12. The road network received a score of 2.8 in 2010-11.

Of 144 countries, the Philippines ranked 87th (from 113th during the previous WEE survey) for the overall state of its public infrastructure.

Other countries in the region garnered the following scores on the quality of their roads: Vietnam, 2.6 in 2011-12 to 2.7 in 2012-13; Malaysia, 5.7 to 5.4; Thailand, 5 to 5, and Indonesia, 3.5 to 3.4, all for the same periods.

The Department of Public Works and Highways has acknowledged that the Philippines lags behind many of its neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in terms of quality of infrastructure and, in particular, the quality of its roads.

The country, the DPWH pointed out, was “still behind, except for Vietnam, which may not be for long due to the heavy investments in infrastructure going on in that country.”

Ranking

In a report on the Philippine Road Network, a copy of which was furnished the Inquirer, the DPWH disclosed that 25,443 km, or 80.52 percent of the 31,597.68 kilometers of national roads have been paved.

However, only 9,775 km of 31,233.23 km in provincial roads, 5,394 km of 15,816 km in municipal roads and 8,020 km of 121,702 km in barangay roads have been upgraded by the agency.

But with a four-year road improvement budget of over P124.6 billion, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson has expressed confidence the country’s ranking would improve before the end of President Aquino’s term in June 2016.

Between 2010 and 2012, the agency spent nearly P50 billion for the paving of national arterial and secondary roads all over the country.

In January, Singson asked DPWH engineers and other agency field personnel not to lose sight of their “target outcomes for the period 2012 to 2016.”  Inquirer