‘Dutertenomics’ seen to usher in ‘golden age of infrastructure’

If former President Benigno Aquino III had “Aquinomics” that cemented the Philippines’ status as “Asia’s rising star,” make way for “Dutertenomics” under President Duterte’s watch, which is seen ushering in a “golden age of infrastructure.”

In a statement on Sunday, the Department of Finance (DOF) said that together with the Presidential Communications Operations Office, it would hold on Tuesday a forum on Dutertenomics and the administration’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda ultimately aimed at reducing the poverty incidence to 14 percent by 2022 from 21.6 percent in 2015.

The Duterte administration’s 10-point agenda also targets to make the country a middle-income economy by the end of the President’s term, the DOF said.

During the forum, economic managers led by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III will launch the website www.build.gov.ph, which the DOF said would contain “information on government infrastructure contracts as well as drone images showing the progress of big-ticket infrastructure projects.”

Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno had said that part of the plan to make the six years of the Duterte administration a so-called “golden age of infrastructure” was spending P847.2 billion or 5.2 percent of GDP on infrastructure this year.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia had said that the Duterte administration had programmed to spend up to P9 trillion on public infrastructure from 2017 to 2022.

Pernia last month unveiled the plan to pitch for President Duterte’s approval a list of 55 flagship, “game-changing” projects that the administration aims to roll out and complete before 2022.

Officials said the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda( was eyeing “big” projects, including bridges that would connect islands across the archipelago, airports and ports.

The comprehensive list will cover projects to be funded by not only development partners such as the Chinese and Japanese governments as well as multilateral lenders including the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the World Bank but also by the annual national budget, according to Neda officials.

“This year, we expect to start big railway projects such as the Clark-Subic Rail, Tutuban-Clark Rail, the 581-kilometer south line of the North South Railway Project connecting Tutuban, Calamba, Batangas and Bicol. We already began construction of the Panguil Bay Bridge. And this year, we will also see the groundbreaking of the Clark International Airport, the Metro Manila Bus Rapid Transit and three bridges across Pasig River, two of which will be built under Chinese grants. We are also closely working with our Chinese partners to finally start the construction of the Kaliwa Dam and Chico River Dam this year,” Dominguez said.